Samuel Beckett - Waiting for Godot (San Quentin Workshop, 1988)

Two seemingly homeless men waiting for someone or something named Godot. Vladimir and Estragon wait near a tree on a barren stretch of road, inhabiting a drama spun from their own consciousness. Samuel Beckett’s absurdist play, Waiting for Godot, premiered in Paris in 1953, at the Théâtre de Babylone, under the direction of French actor, Roger Blin. Many other directors staged the play in the years to come, each time interpreting it in their own way. All the while, Beckett complained that the play was being subjected to “endless misunderstanding.” However, when an actor, Peter Woodthrope, once asked him to explain what Godot is all about, Beckett answered quixotically: “It’s all symbiosis, Peter; it’s symbiosis.” Beckett never gave a clear explanation. But perhaps he offered up something better. In 1985, Beckett directed three of his plays — Waiting for Godot, Krapp’s Last Tape and Endgame — as part of a production called “Beckett Directs Beckett.” The plays performed by the San Quentin Players toured Europe and Asia with much fanfare, and with Beckett exerting directorial control. Lawrence Held - Estragon Bud Thorpe - Vladimir Alan Mendell - Lucky Rick Cluchey - Pozzo Louis Beckett-Cluchey - The boy Robert Bilheimer - director for television Directed by Walter D. Asmus based on the direction of Samuel Beckett for “Beckett Directs Beckett” (1985). For more details see the short documentation “Behind the scenes...“ here: