Waiting for Godot

Despite the late Irish titan’s estate being famously resistant to any sort of major innovation when it comes to revivals of his work, Samuel Beckett’s existential masterpiece ‘Waiting for Godot’ still gets wheeled out semi-frequently: it’s too good and too singular to bother fretting over whether or not you can radically reinvent it or not (NB, you can’t). This is the first time it’s had a full-on West End production since Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart did it in 2009, though, as heavyweights Lucian Msamati and Ben Whishaw take on the role of tramps Estragon and Vladimir, lolling about in a no-man’s land while kidding themselves that the mysterious Godot is going to visit them sometime soon. The great director James Macdonald – renowned for his work with the likes of Caryl Churchill, Sarah Kane and Annie Baker – will helm things while trying not to annoy the Beckett estate.