IN REVIEW

Summer Stage presents classic Waiting for Godot

BY C.S. GILBERT

In a civilized society there is a cultural imperative to pass on the heritage, or heritages, be they historic, artistic, literary, gustatory, ethnic. This is why some literature is called classic — the Greeks, Shakespeare, Dickens and, in the 20th Century, Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot.

The Summer Stage production, which opened Tuesday and runs through Sunday at the Red Barn, is a fine show all around and features a bravura performance by Ross Pipkin as the enslaved and degraded Lucky. His monologue alone is well worth the price of admission.

This is not in any way to cast aspersions on leads Tony Konrath as Vladimir (Deedee) and Bob Bowersox, Summer Stage founder, majordomo and jack of all trades, as Estragon (Gogo). Their characterizations are spot on and it’s clear performances will be equally excellent come the run of the show, when all the lines get nailed and occasional projection challenges (of both voices and the moon) are overcome. Remember that Konk Life, to meet the print edition deadline, had to see the show five days out “years, in terms of a show coming together,” before the tech rehearsal, far before the dress. Director George Gugliotti had both pathos and vaudeville down pat and was striving mightily to achieve both projection goals, the latter with talented lighting designer Jules Conn.

With the exception of 10-year-old Dre Cooper, playing Boy (Cooper is adorable and on his way to developing some serious acting chops), the cast is composed of well-seasoned veterans. The always impressive Karl Stahl completes the roster in the role of Pozzo, master of Lucky; they arrive at the site (described as “A country road. Somewhere.”) to deflect, then further ignite the verbal gymnastics. Deedee and Gogo, in the almost but not always nonsensical dialogue of the Theater of the Absurd, often seem the perfect portrait of a codependent couple who have spent 50 years loving and hating one another.

As famed critic Brooks Atkinson wrote in his April 20, 1956, review: “Since ‘Waiting for Godot’ has no simple meaning, one seizes on Mr. Beckett’s experience of two worlds to account for his style and point of view. The point of view suggests Sartre — bleak, dark, disgusted. The style suggests Joyce — pungent and fabulous. Put the two together and you have some notion of Mr. Beckett’s acrid cartoon of the story of mankind.”

Bowersox’s minimalist set, not quite the black box he mentioned (weeks ago in contrasting it to the superbly cluttered, realistic set of the season opener, the stunning ‘night Mother), does the trick: from lights up on Act One the asymmetrical, skewed arches signal a show that will strive to keep the audience just a bit off balance — the existential condition. The sitting rock and two-dimensional tree, the only set pieces, are fully functional and props are thankfully, after the complex ‘night Mother, few — surely a relief for ever excellent stage manager/prop person Annie Miners.

Waiting for Godot, in the last analysis and including the slapstick (note the bowler hats and Two/Three Stooges bits) and dark humor, is an intelligent playgoer’s show. Pronouncing Godot with the emphasis on the first syllable (God’ Oh) — an innovation in this critic’s 50 years of exposure to the show but indeed the preferred pronunciation — makes immediately clear that the pair are awaiting God, or some god, in vain. It’s that existential dilemma again. Putting the emphasis on the last syllable (Gah Doh’) makes it more subtle. Subtlety is good. Oh, well.

If your idea of thematic challenge is Fascism in The Sound of Music, you won’t like this play. But if you want to see it with friends and end the evening with a lively discussion over adult beverages — or see it alone and have something to think about all the way home — don’t miss this fine production of a must-see classic. Theatre XP and Summer Stage are to be cheered and thanked for daring to present it. I challenge you, dear reader, to attend.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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