English 395 Spring 2011

Samuel Beckett Waiting for Godot (1954), part II April 5, 2011

OUTLINE
Contexts: Modernism & WWII
Godot as Theater of the Absurd

Becketts Tramps / Physical Comedy in Godot

Why wait? Waiting for what?

CONTEXTS: MODERNISM & WWII

Literary modernism of 1920s Post-World War II culture Marxism and class struggle Interest in negative emotions: envy, greed, anxiety, boredom Questioning of languages ability to communicate meaning

CONTEXTS: EXISTENTIALISM (review)

Philosophical movement of 1940s &1950s Camus, The Myth of Sisyphus (1942): Defines human condition as devoid of meaning & sees rational understanding of world as impossible Sartre: existence proceeds essence
Human beings "make themselves in particular situations through habitual behaviors and projects We feel alienated from others, who scrutinize and observe us from the outside Anxiety alienates us from practical action outside world becomes absurd and without reason

THEATER OF ABSURD
Theater of 1950s-1960s Dramas puzzle, outrage, and provoke audiences Human characters who seem strange & unfamiliar Actions lack evident motivation A different convention of drama (Esslin)

CONVENTIONS OF ABSURDIST PLAY

Marin Esslins 1965 Essay
Uncertainty about which actions or images are real and which are dream / fantasy Dialogue becomes chatter

Actions evoke pantomime and slapstick: Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, Marxo Brothers, W.C. Fields, Laurel and Hardy Atmosphere is more central than plot
Satire of fossilized language clich, scientific rationality, philosophy

ESSLIN: GODOT AS ABSTRACT ART

A BAD YET POWERFUL PLAY?

BECKETTS TRAMPS / PHYSICAL COMEDY

A Country Road, 1915, 1955, 2007

Figure: Frame from Charlie Champ, The Little Tramp, Keystone Comedy(1915)

Figure: Set for Waiting for Godot, Creative Time, New Orleans, 2007

WHY WAIT? WAITING FOR WHAT?

WHY WAIT? WAITING FOR WHAT?

Fig. Waiting for Godot, Directed by Walter D. Asmus, Starring Lawrence Held & Bud Thorpe

KEY CONCEPTS THUS FAR

Modernism Existentialism

Theater of the absurd

Physical comedy Site-specific theater

THE CRITICS ROLE?

Review of Peter Halls 2005 production

Fig. Waiting for Godot, Dir. Peter Hall, Terrence Rigby (Pozzo) and Richard Dormer (Lucky), Theatre Royal Bath, 2005. (Starring James Laurenson and Alan Dobie.)