Preview: Waiting for Godot at Newcastle Peoples Theatre

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“We always find something – eh, Didi? – to give us the impression we exist …”

Waiting for Godot

by Samuel Beckett

Newcastle Peoples Theatre

Tuesday 1st to Saturday 5th November 2016

Two weatherbeaten down-and-outs linger by a solitary tree, hoping to meet the elusive and mysterious Mr Godot.

Estragon (Gordon Russell), Pozzo (Kevin Gibson),

Vladimir (Steve Robertson), Lucky (Roger Liddle)

Photo: Paula Smart

Their infernal wait is alternately enlivened by high-velocity banter, lugubrious melancholy, sardonic contemplation, and some very odd visitors and passers-by.

Vladimir (Steve Robertson), Estragon (Gordon Russell),

Pozzo (Kevin Gibson), Lucky (Roger Liddle)

Photo: Paula Smart

At once emotive, contemplative, and humorous, Beckett’s masterpiece wittily explores our angst-ridden insecurities on the absurdity and meaninglessness of life.

In their battered bowlers, dust-flecked coats, and road-worn boots, the ever-buoyant Vladimir and the tetchy Estragon are like Laurel and Hardy re-imagined by Sartre, with Beckett’s wry dialogue making the show every bit as vaudevillian as it is philosophical.

Estragon (Gordon Russell) and Vladimir (Steve Robertson)

Photo: Paula Smart

You shouldn’t laugh at this tightrope walk between happiness and despair – but you will. As Beckett enigmatically said of his work: “It’s a game. Everything is a game.”

“Yes, yes, we're magicians”

Hailed by the legendary critic Kenneth Tynan as “a pilgrim from Mars” upon its sensational arrival in 1955, Beckett’s existentialist tragicomedy has been a familiar friend to theatre lovers ever since.

Pozzo (Kevin Gibson), Estragon (Gordon Russell),

      Lucky (Roger Liddle), Vladimir (Steve Robertson)

Photo: Paula Smart

In recent years, Vladimir and Estragon have become must-do roles for Hollywood stars and jobbing actors alike.

When Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart were in the region performing the play in 2009, Sir Ian visited the People’s in his capacity as President of the Little Theatre Guild. Now PTAG members Steve Robertson and Gordon Russell don the legendary bowler hats as Vladimir and Estragon.

But will Godot show up? There’s only one way to find out …

Tickets:

Waiting For Godot appears on Tuesday 1^st to Saturday 5^th November 2016 at 7.30pm

Tickets cost £13.50 (Concessions £11) and are available from 0191 265 5020 or the website www.peoplestheatre.co.uk