Day 9

Class:

We shared our opinions on Phedre and began discussing Waiting for Godot. While the philosophical beliefs behind existentialism are beyond the scope of our study, we did acknowledge that they are centered on the notion of a God-less world. Beckett’s work specifically questions the reason we talk and our fear of silence, effectively employing long pauses at crucial junctures. We discussed Vladamir and Estragon’s characters, and Professor Clum called Godot the most influential play of the 20th century.

We then practiced our Shakespeare monologues with some direction, and learned the following:

-acting Shakespeare is difficult

-each time we say something, we should act as if we’ve never said it before

-act piece by piece, movement by movement

-our bodies shouldn’t do anything unless there’s a reason to do it

This new knowledge in hand, we will be ready to ace our monologues on Friday.

Show:

Waiting for Godot at the Royal Haymarket

Upon entering the Royal Haymarket Theater, I was rudely introduced to the fact that it is unusually expensive (just as Professor Clum had warned) — the program for the show was 4 pounds, instead of the standard 3. I chose, however, not to let this upset too much, as I was about to see Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellan LIVE.

Their performances lived up to our high expectations. McKellan’s Estragon was hilarious and physically embodied the role of an aging man wasting away. Stewart played the more emotionally present Vladamir, and did a great job demonstrating his frustration with the monotonous insignificance that their lives had become. Additionally, we got to see firsthand the effect of Beckett’s planned pauses, and they seemed to have exactly the intended effect– to make the audience uncomfortable. Upon the play’s dreary conclusion, it received the most deafening applause of any show we’ve seen, and many of us took a the rest of the night alone to reflect.

Quote of the day: (Silence) – Samuel Beckett

~ by danlerman on June 23, 2009.