On June 30th 2001, this version of Waiting for Godot was on Ch 4 in England, as a part of their project "Beckett on film". Many of those who were lucky enough to see it will probably tend to agree that it was a thoroughly enjoyable film version of this fantastic play.

Two men wait in a wasteland for a mysterious man named Godot who may hold the key to their future.

For me this is the best version of the play I've ever seen. I've read the play any number of times, I've seen it on stage with Nathan Lane and Bill Irwin and I've seen several other film (or rather TV) versions of the play and every time I've seen it I've never found the wonder that many people find in the play. I don't get it. Perhaps its the fact that the play has become part of our cultural history and has been riffed on and parodied that its lost some of it power. (Personally I think its not that good but thats another thing all together). In all the times I've seen it I only fleetingly found the humor and the magic of the play. That is until I saw this version. Seeing this film with Barry McGovern and Johnny Murphy I at last found the play to be funny and touching. Thanks to Michael Lindsay Hogg's direction I saw the humor and the magic. I still don't think its a great play, but for the first time in decades of wrestling with the play I finally found a reason to understand why the play is constantly being revived. There is humor and there is magic- you just have to have the right actors in the lead roles, and you also need a way of bringing the audience into the action. This film has that in spades.

Actually the best thing I can say about this film is that for the first time in my life I'm looking forward to seeing Waiting for Godot again, not because its "good" for me but because there is a version of it I love.


Director: Michael Lindsay-Hogg
Writer: Samuel Beckett (play)

cast:
Barry McGovern .... Vladimir /
Johnny Murphy .... Estragon /
Alan Stanford .... Pozzo /
Stephen Brennan .... Lucky
Sam McGovern ... Boy

Runtime:120 min
Sound Mix:Dolby
Color:Color
Country: Ireland
Language: English
Color: Color