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A SAMUEL FRENCH, LTD. TITLE
Full-Length Play, Dramatic Comedy / 4m, 1boy(s)
Samuel Beckett
In this masterpiece of existentialism, first staged in 1953, Samuel Beckett explores the futility of man’s hope through the experiences of two wanderers named Vladimir and Estragon.
Image: 2025 Broadway Production (Andy Henderson)
Two wandering tramps, Vladimir and Estragon, wait by a lonely tree to meet up with Mr. Godot, an enigmatic figure in a world where time, place and memory are blurred and meaning is where you find it. The tramps hope that Godot will change their lives for the better. Instead, two eccentric travelers arrive, one man on the end of the other’s rope. The results are both funny and dangerous in Beckett’s existential classic.
Waiting for Godot made its world premiere on January 5, 1953 in the Théâtre de Babylone in Paris. The production was directed by Roger Blin, who also played the role of Pozzo. On April 19, 1956, the play made its Broadway premiere at the John Golden Theatre. Directed by Herbert Berghof, the production starred Bert Lahr and E. G. Marshall. Waiting for Godot has returned to Broadway four times, starring Mantan Moreland and Earle Hyman (1957), Bill Irwin and Nathan Lane (2009), Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart (2013) and Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter (2025).
A wasteland with a single tree.
“A witty and poetic conundrum.” – The Guardian
“It is a mystery wrapped in an enigma. But you can expect witness to the strange power this drama has to convey the impression of some melancholy truths about the hopeless destiny of the human race.“ – The New York Times
“The play’s influence permeated theater and spread into pop culture.” – The Washington Post
“Although Waiting for Godot is a ‘puzzlement,’ as the King of Siam would express it, Mr. Beckett is no charlatan. He has strong feelings about the degradation of mankind, and he has given vent to them copiously. Waiting for Godot is all feeling. Perhaps that is why it is puzzling and convincing at the same time. Theatregoers can rail at it, but they cannot ignore it. For Mr. Beckett is a valid writer.” – Brooks Atkinson, The New York Times
Image: 2013 Broadway Production (Joan Marcus)
Samuel Beckett (1906-1989) is widely recognized as one of the greatest dramatists of the 20th century. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1969.
Mr. Beckett is most renowned for his play Waiting for Godot, which launched his career in theatre. He then went on to w ...