Special to the Register
SHERMAN —A revival of Samuel Beckett’s play Waiting for Godot returned to the stage in London stage last month following a sold-out national tour. The Austin College Department of Communication Studies will present the play March 4-6 at 7:30 p.m. in Ida Green Theatre of Ida Green Communication Center. Admission is $8 or presentation of a valid Austin College ID. For more information, call 903-813-2281.
“Waiting for Godot is one of the most important plays written in the 20th century—many consider it the most important,” said Kathleen Campbell, professor of communication studies and the play’s director.
A discussion with the Austin College cast and director will follow the Friday, March 5, performance.
Campbell said the play focuses on two men, Vladimir and Estragon, presumably homeless, waiting for someone named Godot. The dialogue is sparse, the set bare, and the characters are reminiscent of vaudeville or silent film, she said.
When the play first was staged in London in 1965, literary critic Vivian Mercier wrote a famous summation of the plot, noting that “Beckett has achieved a theoretical impossibility—a play in which nothing happens, yet that keeps audiences glued to their seats. What’s more, since the second act is a subtly different reprise of the first, he has written a play in which nothing happens twice.”
“Despite the simplicity of its action, Godot strikes at the heart of the human condition,” Campbell said. “The play, often viewed as part of the theatre of the absurd movement, is a tragic-comedy that captures both the despair and the hope of mid-20th century existentialism.”
One critic recently called the play “a mystery wrapped in an enigma,” explaining that to offer a summary of the plot certainly does not explain it.
Junior Daniel Hook of Lake Jackson, Texas, will play Vladimir, and junior Matthew Varvir of Carrollton, Texas, will play Estragon. Pozzo, a passerby, will be played by senior Paul Frederick of Longview, Texas. Pozzo’s servant, Lucky, will be played by freshman Matthew Ervin of Austin, Texas. A boy who claims to be a messenger of Godot will be played by Colin McGinn, a fifth grade student at Dillingham Intermediate in Sherman, Texas, and son of John McGinn, a member of the Austin College faculty and sound designer for the production.
The stage manager is sophomore Hilary Gregory-Allen of Sherman, Texas, with assistant stage managers freshman Emma Merlo of Sherman, Texas, and senior Peyton Morris of San Antonio, Texas. Set designer is junior Jeff Ridenour of Denison, Texas. The technical director is Andy Williams.
The lighting design will be done by professional lighting designer David Arrow, who will also lead workshops for communications students. The assistant light designer is senior Libby Brooks of Dallas, Texas, who also will operate the light board for the production.
Costume design will be done by senior Liz Webb of Olathe, Kansas, along with director Kathleen Campbell. The make-up designer will be senior Layne Rylander of Dallas, Texas. Prop masters will be sophomore Elizabeth Oltman of Sherman, Texas, and sophomore Anneliese Carter of Arlington, Texas. The soundboard operator will be freshman Harrison Wilkie of Dallas, Texas.
