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Estragon’s boot … Vladimir’s hat.
Discuss the function of these and other symbolic images that are repeated and emphasised in ‘Waiting for Godot’.

Activity 4

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The multiple fall by Pozzo-Lucky-Vladimir-Estragon ‘must not be an untidy heap but has to function,’ insisted Beckett. How far has the film director achieved this?

Activity 5

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Act 1:	Act 2:
Vladimir: You don't know me?	Vladimir:: Do you not recognise me?
Boy: No, sir.	Boy: No, sir.
Vladimir: It wasn't you came yesterday?	Vladimir:: It wasn't you came yesterday.
Boy: No, sir.	Boy: No, sir.
Vladimir: This is your first time?	Vladimir:: This is your first time.
Boy: Yes, sir.	Boy:: Yes, sir.
[Silence.]	[Silence.]

Consider the effect of varying repetition, as in the example above.

Activity 6

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The recursive structure of dialogue in ‘Waiting for Godot’ is meticulously crafted.
Discuss the orchestration of words in this sequence below and/or any other dialogue from the play.

ESTRAGON: All the dead voices.
[Silence]
VLADIMIR: They make a noise like wings.
ESTRAGON: Like leaves.
VLADIMIR: Like sand.
ESTRAGON: Like leaves.
[Silence]
VLADIMIR: They all speak together.
ESTRAGON: Each one to itself.
[Silence]
VLADIMIR: Rather they whisper.
ESTRAGON: They rustle.
VLADIMIR: They murmur.
ESTRAGON: They rustle.
[Silence]
VLADIMIR: What do they say?
ESTRAGON: They talk about their lives.
VLADIMIR: They make a noise like feathers.
ESTRAGON: Like leaves.
VLADIMIR: Like ashes.
ESTRAGON: Like leaves.
[Long silence]
VLADIMIR: Say something!
ESTRAGON: I’m trying.
[Long silence]
VLADIMIR: [In anguish.] Say anything at all!
ESTRAGON: What do we do now?
VLADIMIR: Wait for Godot.
ESTRAGON: Ah!
[Silence] … 01.10.36

Activity 7

Beckett’s use of silence takes the (postmodern) simplification of language to its extreme. Select a scene and consider the nature of the characters’ discomfort created by the pattern of gaps in the dialogue.

Activity 8

The film of ‘Waiting for Godot’ stars the same cast as the 1991 stage production at Dublin’s Gate Theatre. In the theatre, a member of the audience is free to look anywhere about the stage, at the actor speaking or at another’s reaction, or neither. In film, however, the director chooses the camera viewpoint. Where cutting between camera shots quickens the pace of any scene, how far do you find this to be particularly effective or counter-productive in the film production of ‘Waiting for Godot’?

Activity 9

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Film offers the significant advantage of communicating, in close-up, the subtlest of players’ facial (and oral) expressions. Discuss valuable instances of this in the film production of ‘Waiting for Godot’.

Activity 10

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Spectators of traditional theatre and film view the action through an invisible ‘fourth wall’ of the set. The convention demands that characters reveal no awareness of the existence of any audience. In ‘Waiting for Godot’, however, there is a critical awareness of theatrical illusion. Estragon, for example, plays a theatre usher role by directing Vladimir to the Men’s Room at the ‘End of the corridor, on the left.’ And Vladimir hurries away, tossing back the request - ‘Keep my seat.’ How does this approach position and involve the audience viewing the film production of ‘Waiting for Godot’?

Activity 11

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How significant is the setting of ‘Waiting for Godot’?

Activity 12

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Study the thematic significance of hats and the gestures made with them.

Activity 13

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Consider the contribution made by the language of hand gestures in the film production of ‘Waiting for Godot’.

Activity 14

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Players’ stage movements are choreographed with balletic precision throughout the film production of ‘Waiting for Godot’. Select any ‘scene’ of the drama and examine how rhythmic movement can contribute to the play’s theme.

Activity 15

Pozzo: I don’t seem to be able … [Long hesitation] … to depart.
Estragon: Such is life.

Where else in the play is this theme expressed?

Activity 16

Explore how the play’s structure serves to emphasise the play’s themes.

Activity 17

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How appropriate are Vladimir’s renderings of Brahms’ ‘Lullaby’ and the ‘Wedding March’? [01.19.00]

Activity 18

Vladimir is even more pathetic than Estragon because he wrestles persistently but with utter futility against meaninglessness. Discuss.

Activity 19

‘One act,’ Beckett noted, ‘would have been too little and three acts would have been too much.’ Why are two acts neither ‘too little’ nor ‘too much’?

Activity 20

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00.44.40

Lucky: Given the existence as uttered … and Wattman of a personal God quaquaquaqua … without extension who from the heights … divine aphasia loves us dearly with some exceptions … time will tell and suffers like the divine Miranda with those who for reasons time will tell are plunged in torment plunged in fire … and Cunard it is established beyond all doubt all other … many deny that man in … is seen to waste and pine waste and pine and … the skull …

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01.40.48

Pozzo: [Suddenly furious.] Have you not done tormenting me with your accursed time! It's abominable! When! When! One day, is that not enough for you, one day like any other day, one day he went dumb, one day I went blind, one day we'll go deaf, one day we were born, one day we shall die, the same day, the same second, is that not enough for you? [Calmer.] They give birth astride of a grave, the light gleams an instant, then it's night once more. [He jerks the rope.] On! [Exeunt Pozzo and Lucky. Vladimir follows them to the edge of the stage, looks after them. The noise of falling, reinforced by mimic of Vladimir, announces that they are down again. Silence. Vladimir goes towards Estragon, contemplates him a moment, then shakes him awake.]

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01.43.38

Vladimir: Was I sleeping, while the others suffered? Am I sleeping now? Tomorrow, when I wake, or think I do, what shall I say of today? That with Estragon my friend, at this place until the fall of night, I waited for Godot? That Pozzo passed, with his carrier, and that he spoke to us? Probably. But in all that what truth will there be? [Estragon, having struggled with his boots in vain, is dozing off again. Vladimir stares at him.] He'll know nothing. He'll tell me about the blows he received and I'll give him a carrot. [Pause.] Astride of a grave and a difficult birth. Down in the hole, lingeringly, the grave-digger puts on the forceps. We have time to grow old. The air is full of our cries. [He listens.] But habit is a great deadener. [He looks again at Estragon.] At me too someone is looking, of me too someone is saying, he is sleeping, he knows nothing, let him sleep on. [Pause.] I can't go on! [Pause.] What have I said? [He goes feverishly to and fro, halts finally at extreme left, broods. Enter Boy right. He halts. Silence.]

Consider how and why the thought and style of these three speeches differ dramatically from the rest of ‘Waiting for Godot’.