Grappling with Godot

Its Premiere in Paris in 1953 was ignored. In London, it was ridiculed. In 1955, Alan Schneider was hired to direct the American premiere, in Miami. Schneider had come to playwright Samuel Beckett’s Paris apartment bursting with pre-production curiosities, especially regarding the identity of the title character. To Schneider’s query, "Who is Godot?" the laconic playwright famously retorted, "If I knew, I would have said so in the play." Audiences and critics similarly panned the Miami production.

In a nutshell, Waiting for Godot is about two tramps, Vladimir and Estragon, who wait by a tree, expecting the appearance of Godot. Instead, they are visited by the master-and-slave tandem of Pozzo and Lucky, and a boy who brings the message that Godot will soon be there. The next day, the same thing happens.

It might be quite simple to deduce that Godot is symbolic of "God", and that the tramps’ waiting is, in turn, symbolic of mankind’s inexhaustible search for meaning and salvation. Beckett, though, relentlessly discouraged others from finding meaning in the work, leaving baffled audiences precious little to hook themselves to.

We know how the story ends: Beckett wins the Nobel Prize for Literature. Absurdist drama is acknowledged as an idea whose time has come. Godot becomes a classic of the theater. Still, is mad Manila is going to be more receptive to Godot than polished Paris or learned London?

Yes, for the simple reason that we Pinoys understand all too well the torment of waiting. We encounter it everyday, and wake up each morning knowing that we shall have more of it. And yet, we are somehow able to function as though nothing were wrong. We even gleefully spoof our despair through text jokes and self-deprecating political cartoons. Our fiesta mentality allows us to get by, and how! In essence, like Vladimir and Estragon, we know how it is to live a tragi-comic existence. Many of us do not even attempt to find life’s meaning; that seems like such an indulgent pursuit. We just are.

To be sure, Godot has been mounted in Manila several times. However, we bring to you a production that is new in two respects: First, we are featuring an all-female cast (China Tapia, Rona Lou San Pedro, April Celmar, Denise Bontogon, Hannah Reyes, Nikki Ventosa). Beckett’s absurdist tour de force is refracted through the lenses of gender politics, juxtaposed against Pinoy vaudeville traditions. There is no attempt, however, to maneuver Beckett’s text to project a consciously female point of view.

Second, our actors are all teenagers–exactly the period in a person’s life when she or he is most impatient! The girls’ boundless energies are channeled a hundred ways in order to make the story interesting, theatrical–and touching, too. Here, their theater training in London shines through. These young women continually display a willingness and maturity to subject themselves to Beckett’s –and life’s–absurdities.

Be that as it may, the fact still remains that Godot is not easy to digest.

When rehearsing for a play, it is important to find a "hook"–that which draws audiences into the play’s world. Fortunately, even an absurdist piece like Godot, where nothing is supposed to make sense, contains human beings who convey genuine emotions and reactions.

Ricky Abad, my college drama teacher, once said that any theatrical piece, no matter how bleak in outlook, should have hope. And contrary to what may immediately be apparent, Godot is certainly about hope! Trite as it may sound, Godot stresses the importance of the journey more than the destination, and even more than that, the value of having someone take that all-too-important journey with you. Godot, then, more than anything, is about brotherhood. Or in this case, sisterhood.

In a tragi-comic display of word play, poetry, dreamscapes and loads of sheer nonsense, we discover that, 51 years later, Waiting for Godot hasn’t dated at all. It remains a graceful masterpiece that transcends all barriers of time, race, nationality and gender.

The author directs the play, which goes onstage at The Republic of Malate Theater on June 5 at 9 p.m. The show is made possible by generous arts grants from Revlon, Joey 92.3, Sound Design and NU 107. For inquiries, call the NVC Actors Studio at tel. 896-6695 or e-mail [email protected]