Waiting for Godot Waiting for Godot Waiting for Godot ( ) is a play by Samuel Beckett, in which two characters, Vladimir (Didi) and Estragon (Gogo), wait for the arrival of someone named Godot who never arrives, and while waiting they engage in a variety of discussions and encounter three other characters. "Waiting for Godot" is Beckett's translation of his own original French play, , and is subtitled (in English only) "a tragicomedy in two acts". The original French text was composed between 9 October 1948 and 29 January 1949. The premiere was on 5 January 1953 in the , Paris. The English
Ronald Pickup for Godot" by Samuel Beckett opposite Sir Ian McKellen (Estragon), Patrick Stewart (Vladimir) and also Simon Callow (Pozzo). The tour opened in Malvern, Worcestershire before travelling to Milton Keynes, Brighton, Bath, Norwich, Edinburgh and Newcastle; its run at the Theatre Royal, Haymarket was extended due to demand. In 1973, he appeared as a forger in "The Day of the Jackal". The following year he was seen in Ken Russell's film "Mahler", and also appeared in "Joseph Andrews" in 1977. Pickup played one of the Prussian agents conspiring to blow up the Houses of Parliament in "The Thirty Nine Steps" (1978).