Theatre of the Absurd plots of many Absurdist plays feature characters in interdependent pairs, commonly either two males or a male and a female. Some Beckett scholars call this the "pseudocouple". The two characters may be roughly equal or have a begrudging interdependence (like Vladimir and Estragon in "Waiting for Godot" or the two main characters in "Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead"); one character may be clearly dominant and may torture the passive character (like Pozzo and Lucky in "Waiting for Godot" or Hamm and Clov in "Endgame"); the relationship of the characters may shift dramatically throughout the play (as in Ionesco's "The Lesson"
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).