Who dares clown around with Waiting for Godot? | Letters
Unfortunately, Dr Ken Bray is going to have to wait until 2059, when Waiting for Godot’s copyright ends before he can see a circus version of it (Letters, 4 February). The Beckett estate imposes rigid restrictions on all productions, stating that they must follow Samuel Beckett’s script and staging instructions to the letter, including that the roles may only be played by men. However, various theatre companies have creatively taken the play as inspiration and even sent up the restrictions themselves, such as Little Soldier Productions’ Nothing Happens (Twice), which includes clowning, slapstick and flamingo costumes, by two exuberantly Spanish women, Patrícia Rodríguez and Mercè Ribot.
Sarah-Jane Watkinson
Birmingham
Dr Ken Bray evidently missed the Manchester Royal Exchange production of Waiting for Godot in 1980, when the circus tricks he yearns for were provided with panache by the great Max Wall.
The moment he rolled his bowler hat from fingertip to fingertip across his back was spellbinding. And it’s time to kill that old canard about the play needing livening up. It’s a comedy!
Brendan Mulcahy
London
Five years ago the Everyman theatre in Cheltenham staged a production of Waiting for Godot with the sublime casting of Tweedy, Gloucestershire’s own much-loved clown (of Giffords Circus and the Everyman annual pantomime fame) in the role of Estragon, and fellow clown Jeremy Stockwell in the role of Vladimir. It was quite the funniest production of that play I have ever seen (I have seen a few in my time). The casting and the clowning worked brilliantly.
Jude Emmet
Stonehouse, Gloucestershire
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