Waiting for Godot

A humorous take on Beckett’s depressing classic.
“We are all born mad. Some of us remain so,” Estragon observes in act two of Samuel Beckett’s notoriously knotty play. Called Didi by his companion Vladimir, whom he calls Gogo, Estragon passes the first act waiting for Godot by taking off his boot and quibbling and quarreling with Vladimir. Their circular squabbles are interrupted by the arrival of pompous Pozzo and his lackey Lucky, whom he keeps on a leash. The second pair departs and, as night falls, a Boy arrives to inform Didi and Gogo that Godot will come tomorrow. In act two, which takes place an unspecified length of time after the first, they wait under the same tree. Pozzo, now blind, returns in the company of a mute Lucky, before a Boy arrives once more bearing bad news. Grim, yes, but in 1988, comedians Steve Martin and Robin Williams exposed the humor at the heart of Beckett’s masterpiece in a production at Lincoln Center, a feat the less-famous audio cast repeats here.