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Loved it--I know I've seen it at least once in the mid-70s, danced by a friend's troupe, but cannot remember if I've seen it as a play.
All four actors were wonderful: Nathan Lane, Bill Irwin (see him in Rachel Getting Married), John Goodman, and John Glover. A comedy--has it always been acted as comedy? I don't know. What surprised me was the pronunciation of "Godot" with the accent on the first syllable rather than the second, which I'd never hear before.
Just now I looked this up and found this explanation by director Anthony Page:
Erik Piepenburg: The actors in this revival of “Waiting for Godot” pronounce the title character’s name as GOD-dough, with the accent on the first syllable. In this country, at least, I’ve heard it pronounced Go-DOUGH, with the accent on the second syllable.
Anthony Page: Well GOD-dough is what Samuel Beckett said. Also, the word has to echo Pozzo. That’s the right pronunciation. Go-DOUGH is an Americanism, which isn’t what the play intended.
and back in 2004 there's this:
Media and performing arts professor Karla Knudsen wants to get one thing straight: “Waiting for Godot” is pronounced with the emphasis on the first syllable of “Godot” (as in GOD-oh) as opposed to the typical emphasis on the second syllable (as in go-DOH).
Knudsen, who is directing the Savannah College of Art and Design’s upcoming production, said this is correct according to various sources, including playwright Samuel Beckett himself. She pointed to interviews with Beckett, who died in 1989, where he accused Americans of pronouncing it wrong.
“Somebody in America pronounced it wrong and it just took off,” she said. The correct pronunciation was confirmed when the SCAD cast met Walter Asmus, Beckett’s right-hand man, at 7 Stages in Atlanta when that theater company performed the play March 4 - April 4. Asmus first met Beckett in 1974 when he assisted the playwright on his directorial debut of the play at the Schiller Theatre in Berlin."
Ok. I guess I give in. But it's going to be really difficult for me to rewire my brain into the correct pronunciation, dammit.
All four actors were wonderful: Nathan Lane, Bill Irwin (see him in Rachel Getting Married), John Goodman, and John Glover. A comedy--has it always been acted as comedy? I don't know. What surprised me was the pronunciation of "Godot" with the accent on the first syllable rather than the second, which I'd never hear before.
Just now I looked this up and found this explanation by director Anthony Page:
Erik Piepenburg: The actors in this revival of “Waiting for Godot” pronounce the title character’s name as GOD-dough, with the accent on the first syllable. In this country, at least, I’ve heard it pronounced Go-DOUGH, with the accent on the second syllable.
Anthony Page: Well GOD-dough is what Samuel Beckett said. Also, the word has to echo Pozzo. That’s the right pronunciation. Go-DOUGH is an Americanism, which isn’t what the play intended.
and back in 2004 there's this:
Media and performing arts professor Karla Knudsen wants to get one thing straight: “Waiting for Godot” is pronounced with the emphasis on the first syllable of “Godot” (as in GOD-oh) as opposed to the typical emphasis on the second syllable (as in go-DOH).
Knudsen, who is directing the Savannah College of Art and Design’s upcoming production, said this is correct according to various sources, including playwright Samuel Beckett himself. She pointed to interviews with Beckett, who died in 1989, where he accused Americans of pronouncing it wrong.
“Somebody in America pronounced it wrong and it just took off,” she said. The correct pronunciation was confirmed when the SCAD cast met Walter Asmus, Beckett’s right-hand man, at 7 Stages in Atlanta when that theater company performed the play March 4 - April 4. Asmus first met Beckett in 1974 when he assisted the playwright on his directorial debut of the play at the Schiller Theatre in Berlin."
Ok. I guess I give in. But it's going to be really difficult for me to rewire my brain into the correct pronunciation, dammit.
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And on the matter of Waiting for Godot, did you hear about the production we had here in Newcastle last month? Cast: Sir Ian McKellen, Patrick Stewart, Simon Callow, Ronald Pickup...
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I didn't know it was pronounced any other way! Interesting.
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I'd even wait.
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Jeff P.
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See Bill Irwin in just about anything. He is utterly fantastic. He was in the film My Blue Heaven with Steve Martin & Rick Moranis and stole all the scenes he was in. He also had a very memorable role in two episodes of North Exposure.
I imagine he played Estragon and Lane played Vladimir.
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No--did you see it? I'll bet it was great.
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I still consider it an accomplishment that when I taught a modern drama class a few years ago I was able to get the majority of the class to see that Happy Days is indeed really very funny. I'm reading Murphy at present (my first foray into the novels) and am enjoying it a great deal too.
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Golly! It had never crossed my mind it could be pronounced Go-DOUGH -- or any way other than GOD-dough.
My guess is that someone here must have been prim about the GOD connection.
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"did you hear about the production we had here in Newcastle last month?"
I heard about it! My, how the folks in Britain gloated at me . . .
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Well, same thing, in a way: they might have worried about the theatre being besieged by mobs of howling falwells.
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The "GOD-dough" pronunciation is something I'd never heard before, and I was a Drama major! Interesting...
- yeff
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I saw it in devastated New Orleans after the storm. It was performed in two ruined neighborhoods amidst the rubble. Finally, I got it. It's amazing what time and circumstances will do to finally get a piece of art through to one.
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weird...
Damn New Yorkers with all their productions of Godot... *grumblegrumble*