tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6496460488742488789.post7634524505897094596..comments2024-03-18T10:29:46.055+00:00Comments on Ken Armstrong Writing Stuff: Druid's Waiting For Godot - Theatre in HDKen Armstronghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07775956557261111127noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6496460488742488789.post-88731725474669312832016-07-20T19:39:54.249+01:002016-07-20T19:39:54.249+01:00"Played the Beckett card." :)"Played the Beckett card." :)Ken Armstronghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07775956557261111127noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6496460488742488789.post-13318789818499719352016-07-19T12:18:09.964+01:002016-07-19T12:18:09.964+01:00Now here’s an odd thing. Before I went back to bed...Now here’s an odd thing. Before I went back to bed this morning I heard Carrie talking in the living room. The bird was still covered up so it had to be me she was talking to. I went back in and asked her what she was saying. “Are you Didi or Gogo?” she asked. No preamble, nothing, straight in. “Didi,” I said without batting an eye. “Which would make me Gogo then.” I had no problem with that, said as much and went to bed. There are Didis and Gogos dotted all around the flat. There’re the two she had made for me along with the boots she made herself; there are a couple of polar bears, one standing, one sitting, that can only be them; I even have two Garfields that have more than a passing resemblance to the two tramps. I certainly don’t need to tell you how much this play means to me and, like you, I’m baffled by those who don’t enjoy it even if they don’t fully get it. <br /><br />The first time I saw it I didn’t get it—far from it. It was an Open University performance at the crack of dawn. The inimitable Max Wall played Vladimir against Leo McKern’s Estragon: an inspired pairing. (You can see Act II <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHo_594up6o" rel="nofollow">here</a>. Scroll forward to 34:49.) I was entranced. The next morning I made my wife and my best friend’s girlfriend who was staying with us at the time get up and watch the repeat—no video recorders back then—and I simply couldn’t understand why they weren’t even half as captivated as I was. Beckett’s an odd one. He’s both popular—I can’t imagine a day goes by somewhere on this planet that one of his plays isn’t being performed somewhere—and yet he also manages to put off as many. I remember when I was trying to get people to review <i>Milligan and Murphy</i> how many played the Beckett card: Oh, I find him hard. Christ knows what they’d think of the new book then. You called that novel a love letter to Beckett and I recall correcting you at the time because if you want to read a love letter to Beckett then wait until I post you your copy of <i>The More Things Change</i>. The clue’s in the first line: I call my protagonist Valentine for Christ’s sake!<br /><br />I’ve only ever seen the play live once and we were in the front row; you don’t get more intimate than that. When we filed in the two actors were onstage, frozen and they stayed like that until we were all seated; the lights faded and suddenly the two came to life. Wonderful!Jim Murdochhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12786388638146471193noreply@blogger.com