Review: Waiting for Godot, Tobacco Factory Theatres

Samuel Beckett called Waiting for Godot a tragi-comedy, and finding a balance between its tragic and comic elements is a creative conundrum. Tobacco Factory Theatres’s in-house production is a game of two halves: the first act focusing on humour; the second wading in sorrow. The audience react accordingly, with great bursts of laughter followed by quiet reflection.

The main duo of Vladimir (David Fielder) and Estragon (Colin Connor) perform with great comic energy and physicality, especially during the first act in which even their darkest lines are largely played for laughs. If Pozzo (John Stahl) is a monster, he’s a cheerful one: a study in lordly entitlement, like a boss holding court during after-work drinks.

John Stahl as Pozzo. All pics: Mark Dawson Photography

His nonchalant delivery of lines like “the tears of the world are a constant quality” and “to each his due” while patronising or abusing the other characters turns such lines into ironic, self-serving platitudes. His brutalised servant Lucky (the deliciously forlorn Chris Bianchi) gets a heartfelt round of applause for his manic, scatter-brained speech about God, time and tennis.

There’s a sharp change in mood after the break, especially when Pozzo returns, now blind and laid low by existential dread. John Stahl’s magnificent performance is key to the contrast – especially chilling is his utterance of the famous line: “they give birth astride of a grave, the light gleams an instant, then it’s night once more.”

Vladimir (David Fielder) and Estragon (Colin Connor)

Following their second encounter with Pozzo and Lucky, the two companions seem shaken and deflated. They attempt to hang themselves using a belt – only for it to snap, leaving Estragon’s trousers around his ankles. It’s usually one of the play’s funnier moments, but here it’s simply the final humiliation.

Beckett was sceptical of performing Godot in the round, preferring a “closed box” to highlight his characters’ isolation. Mark Rosenblatt’s production makes a virtue of it, with the surrounding audience representing the intimidating Otherness of the off-stage world, whose terrors are hinted at by Dave Price’s otherworldly music and Matthew Graham’s creepy lighting effects.

Chris Bianchi as Pozzo

A liberty is also taken with the setting of the play, relocated by designer Janet Bird to something resembling a building site. Audiences have often wondered what Vladimir and Estragon are waiting for, and this setting suggests it’s a solid day’s work. Perhaps they’re on the ultimate zero-hours contract.

Following its initial run in Bristol, Tobacco Factory Theatres’ Waiting for Godot heads to Lancaster and Scarborough, and it should do well. It’s an impressive production that successfully distills both the warmth and despair at the heart of Beckett’s wonderful script.

Waiting for Godot continues at Tobacco Factory Theatres until Saturday, Nov 5. For more info and to book tickets, visit www.tobaccofactorytheatres.com/shows/waiting-godot-samuel-beckett

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