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Frances Kelsey Godot well worth waiting for
Peter Rusland
Vladimir (Kim Phillips) ponders life’s complexities during Kelsey Theatre’s Dec. 14 premiere of Waiting For Godot.
By Peter Rusland
News Leader Pictorial
Dec 23 2006
We’re all waiting for Godot.
The ennui of daily life with hopes for change that rarely comes was brilliantly depicted last week in Frances Kelsey secondary’s production of Waiting For Godot.
Irish playwright Samuel Beckett’s existential masterpiece was tackled with gusto by Grade 12 director Sean Cage, his crew and five actors on a stage decorated only by a spindly tree.
That’s where wayward hobos Vladimir (Kim Phillips) and Estragon (Leslie Whittaker) fritter their days away expecting a visit from unseen Godot.
But they’re unsure who or what Godot is. A man? Death? Or maybe salvation from society’s daily treadmill that traps us all like rats?
“Everything will be better tomorrow,” Vladimir optimistically tells Estragon.
But the next day turns out the same as today, though hope springs from new growth on the sad little tree.
Drab sameness is punctuated by the arrival of rich snob Pozzo (Emma Koch) towing a poor slave, ironically named Lucky (Robert Woods), by a rope around his neck.
Like a beaten dog, Lucky doesn’t try to escape or even fight back against his tormenting master’s riding whip.
Instead, he obeys one-word orders barked out by Pozzo.
To seek meaning in Godot, one must realize Beckett’s absurdist play is soaked in symbolism.
Pozzo likely represents the upper class or greedy corporations treating workers like Lucky as cattle (she even calls Lucky ‘Hog’) while an apathetic middle class (Vladimir and Estragon) wonders what can be done but takes little action.
A whimpering boy (Jarod Crockett) perhaps symbolizes the media, arriving to tell the two heroes vacant news about Godot; news controlled by the mysterious master.
Waiting For Godot should project surreal, abstruse qualities resembling a stripped-down Alice In Wonderland and Kelsey’s version - Cowichan’s first in recent memory - hits the bull’s-eye.
Cage’s cast clearly found enough common ground on the meaning behind Beckett’s puzzling play to present a physically- demanding dramatic tour de force.
They’ve got the bruises to prove it as their characters grappled for dominance in Act 2 when a blind Pozzo returns with Lucky, receiving scant sympathy from Vladimir and Estragon.
Indeed, Kelsey’s droll Godot was a listening person’s play with rewards aplenty for those willing to dig deeper outside superficial endings offered by TV and Hollywood.
Existential comedy rating: 10 enigmas out of 10.
Peter Rusland
Vladimir (Kim Phillips) ponders life’s complexities during Kelsey Theatre’s Dec. 14 premiere of Waiting For Godot.
By Peter Rusland
News Leader Pictorial
Dec 23 2006
We’re all waiting for Godot.
The ennui of daily life with hopes for change that rarely comes was brilliantly depicted last week in Frances Kelsey secondary’s production of Waiting For Godot.
Irish playwright Samuel Beckett’s existential masterpiece was tackled with gusto by Grade 12 director Sean Cage, his crew and five actors on a stage decorated only by a spindly tree.
That’s where wayward hobos Vladimir (Kim Phillips) and Estragon (Leslie Whittaker) fritter their days away expecting a visit from unseen Godot.
But they’re unsure who or what Godot is. A man? Death? Or maybe salvation from society’s daily treadmill that traps us all like rats?
“Everything will be better tomorrow,” Vladimir optimistically tells Estragon.
But the next day turns out the same as today, though hope springs from new growth on the sad little tree.
Drab sameness is punctuated by the arrival of rich snob Pozzo (Emma Koch) towing a poor slave, ironically named Lucky (Robert Woods), by a rope around his neck.
Like a beaten dog, Lucky doesn’t try to escape or even fight back against his tormenting master’s riding whip.
Instead, he obeys one-word orders barked out by Pozzo.
To seek meaning in Godot, one must realize Beckett’s absurdist play is soaked in symbolism.
Pozzo likely represents the upper class or greedy corporations treating workers like Lucky as cattle (she even calls Lucky ‘Hog’) while an apathetic middle class (Vladimir and Estragon) wonders what can be done but takes little action.
A whimpering boy (Jarod Crockett) perhaps symbolizes the media, arriving to tell the two heroes vacant news about Godot; news controlled by the mysterious master.
Waiting For Godot should project surreal, abstruse qualities resembling a stripped-down Alice In Wonderland and Kelsey’s version - Cowichan’s first in recent memory - hits the bull’s-eye.
Cage’s cast clearly found enough common ground on the meaning behind Beckett’s puzzling play to present a physically- demanding dramatic tour de force.
They’ve got the bruises to prove it as their characters grappled for dominance in Act 2 when a blind Pozzo returns with Lucky, receiving scant sympathy from Vladimir and Estragon.
Indeed, Kelsey’s droll Godot was a listening person’s play with rewards aplenty for those willing to dig deeper outside superficial endings offered by TV and Hollywood.
Existential comedy rating: 10 enigmas out of 10.