Monday 28 September 2009

I saw Beckett's Waiting for Godot at the Royal Haymarket Theatre. Although i thought the acting was brilliant, in my opinion the set let the over all production down as it fails to replicate the themes explored in the book, leaving the audience a little confused.
When reading the play we are made to understand that the two main characters have found themselves in a deserted landscape, their position only recognizable by a single tree. However the set at the Haymarket theatre is an elaborate and detailed construction of what looks like a ruined building, which in my opinion doesn't support what we have been given to understand from the couple, that they are lost and unsure whether this is the right place to be, when in reality it seems very recognizable.
So in the opening scene of the second act, when one of the characters is waiting for the other we as an audience can't understand why he would be uncertain if this is the place they had been yesterday. It is only clear if you have read the play.

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