- April 19, 2024
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Victoria Page in "Waiting for Godot." Courtesy photo by Mike Kitaif
Victoria Page in "Waiting for Godot." Courtesy photo by Mike Kitaif
Victoria Page in "Waiting for Godot." Courtesy photo by Mike Kitaif
Earl Levine in "Waiting for Godot." Courtesy photo by Mike Kitaif
Earl Levine in "Waiting for Godot." Courtesy photo by Mike Kitaif
Earl Levine in "Waiting for Godot." Courtesy photo by Mike Kitaif
Beau Wade in "Waiting for Godot." Courtesy photo by Mike Kitaif
Beau Wade in "Waiting for Godot." Courtesy photo by Mike Kitaif
Beau Wade in "Waiting for Godot." Courtesy photo by Mike Kitaif
Brent Jordan in "Waiting for Godot." Courtesy photo by Mike Kitaif
Brent Jordan in "Waiting for Godot." Courtesy photo by Mike Kitaif
Brent Jordan in "Waiting for Godot." Courtesy photo by Mike Kitaif
Even as the wait never ends for the characters in “Waiting for Godot,” the anticipation is almost over for the City Repertory Theatre’s final show of the season.
CRT will present “Waiting for Godot” on successive weekends, April 29 to May 1 and May 6 to May 8, at the theatre in City Marketplace.
John Sbordone, CRT’s artistic director, who is directing Samuel Beckett’s classic tragicomedy, said of the 400 shows he has worked on during his career, this one is the most interesting.
“You recognize so many patterns in the way we think, the way we go about living, what choices we make to pass the time,” he said. “We’re always doing that, waiting for the next moment, waiting for Godot or waiting for whatever it is that’s coming and what you do to fill the time and get to the next moment.
“It posits a world that is only as interesting and good as what your expectation is.”
Husband and wife Earl Levine and Victoria Page star as Estragon and Vladimir, respectively. Brent Jordan plays Pozzo and Beau Wade plays Lucky.
The play hits on many philosophical issues, and it’s as absurdly funny as it is grim. Traditionally, it’s done with comic actors, Sbordone said.
Burt Lahr, who famously portrayed the cowardly lion in “The Wizard of Oz,” starred in the original Broadway production of Godot in 1956. Steve Martin and Robin Williams performed the show, as did Nathan Lane and John Goodman and Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen.
“Like Shakespeare, (Godot) is considered by actors as a marvelous challenge to stretch their abilities. We have four of our very, very best doing it.”
JOHN SBORDONE, City Repertory Theatre artistic director
“Like Shakespeare, (Godot) is considered by actors as a marvelous challenge to stretch their abilities,” Sbordone said. “We have four of our very, very best doing it. Both (Levine and Page) have Broadway experience and extensive experience (acting on stage) in New York.”
The play centers around two scruffy acquaintances, Vladimir and Estragon, who are waiting for the mysterious Godot. As they discuss a variety of topics, a traveler, Pozzo, and his slave, Lucky arrive.
“I taught Godot in the classroom at the University of Maine,” Sbordone said. “It’s so chock full of ideas. You can discuss it as a piece of philosophical literature, but it’s intended as a clown show.
“It was written in 1952, and we’re trying to look at it in 2022,” Sbordone added. “Our whole experience as an audience is going to be different. Theater artists are always going back to Shakespeare. There’s always something in Shakespeare that’s new and relevant 400 years later. Godot is that kind of a piece.”
CRT will have one post-season show, a children's theater presentation of School House Rock Live on June 23-24.
