Original version

BBC World Service South Asia

The Forum

Documentaries

Factual: Arts, Culture & the Media

Discover world history, culture and ideas with today’s leading experts

BBC World Service Online

BBC World Service schedule for American satellite radio and the Caribbean

BBC World Service Americas and the Caribbean

BBC World Service

BBC World Service Europe and the Middle East

BBC World Service East Asia

BBC World Service Australasia

BBC World Service East and Southern Africa Schedule

BBC World Service East and Southern Africa

BBC World Service West and Central Africa Schedule

BBC World Service West and Central Africa

The Forum: Waiting for Godot: The play that changed the rules of theatre

Discussion & Talk

The Druid Theatre Company's Production of Waiting for Godot. Credit: Matthew Thompson

04/08/2018 GMT

Waiting for Godot: The play that changed the rules of theatre

BBC World Service - The Forum, Waiting for Godot: The play that changed the rules of theatre

How a play in which nothing happens created a revolution in contemporary theatre

Waiting for Godot – the play without a plot that shocked audiences but then changed theatre forever. Joining Rajan Datar are Benjy Francis, Garry Hynes and Anna McMullan.

Waiting for Godot is a play by the Irish writer Samuel Beckett that revolutionised 20th century theatre when it was first performed more than 60 years ago. Often referred to as a play in which nothing happens, it is about two characters who spend their time waiting for a mysterious person called Godot who never appears. Today it is one of the world's most important and best- known plays and has become a comment on our political and social climate, as its themes of hope and despair have led to it being re-interpreted in a number of conflict situations around the world, from South Africa to Sarajevo.

Joining Rajan Datar is the South African theatre director Benjy Francis who was the first to stage Waiting for Godot with an all-black cast in Apartheid South Africa in 1976, the Irish theatre director Garry Hynes whose current production of Waiting for Godot is at the Edinburgh International Festival, and Professor of theatre at Reading University, Anna McMullan, who is also co-Director of the Beckett International Foundation.

Photo:The Druid Theatre Company's production of Waiting for Godot (Matthew Thompson).

Accessibility links

Programme Index

The Forum

Waiting for Godot: The play that changed the rules of theatre

Genres

Formats

Brand

BBC World Service South Asia

About BBC World Service