For the week of October 2 - 8, 2002

Waiting for…

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By ADAM TANOUS
Express Arts Editor

Hope, God, death, sensual affirmation of existence, meaning, love, salvation. What do we seek in life? In other words, what are we waiting for?

This is the central question lurking in the linguistically rich drama by Samuel Beckett’s "Waiting for Godot."

Company of Fools will stage this unique play—a play that falls somewhere among theater of the absurd, existentialism and vaudevillian stage play—Thursday, Oct. 10 through Sunday, Nov. 3, at the Liberty Theatre in Hailey. This is a Back Alley Production by COF, which means the audience is actually seated on stage and the players take over the rest of the theatre. Rusty Wilson is directing the challenging play. He commented on his approach to this 20^th century classic in an interview last week.

Ostensibly, the play has one of the simplest plots imaginable. Two men, Vladimir and Estragon, meet near a tree along a dirt road and converse. It becomes apparent both men are waiting for a man named Godot. Later, another man, Pozzo, enters with his slave, Lucky. Lucky entertains the men with his dancing. Soon a boy enters to tell Vladimir and Estragon that Godot is not coming. A similar event plays out in the second act.

When "Waiting for Godot" opened on Jan.5, 1953, at the Theatre de Babylone, critics termed the show "the strange little play in which nothing happens."

Wilson has changed the venue to a deserted vaudeville theatre. He has also inserted a 50-year time gap between the first and second act. He has cast Andrew Alburger, Paul Bauman, Anthony Henderson, Richard Rush and Manny Santiago in the drama. Laine Satterfield is the assistant director.

Wilson described the play as the "richest multi-layered play I’ve ever encountered. (Beckett’s) language has difficult demands. It demands a clarity. It’s this big puzzle. We’re working hard to make a clear context for it, to find clarity throughout the play. The language is so rich, you want everything focused."

If the action isn’t focused, it takes away from the language, he added.

The way Wilson has staged the play, the audience of 52 sits on raised seats where the stage would normally be. They will face the rest of the theater, which the cast and crew are transforming into a deserted vaudeville house. The actors will use all of the theater.

"It will be a very close and intimate production—the relationship between player and audience will be different," Wilson promised.

The play will run Thursdays through Sundays from Oct. 10 through Nov. 3. Performances will be at 8 p.m., except for the Sunday matinees, which will be at 3 p.m. After the matinee performances, there will be an audience-player encounter. The audience will be asked to stay for coffee and dessert and engage in conversation with the artists.

Tickets for the production are $20 for reserved seating; seniors and students pay $15. Tickets can be charged by phone at 578-9122, online at www.ticketweb.com, or by stopping by the Fools’ box office at 409 Main Street in Hailey (above the Roark Law Firm).

 

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