Wilbury Theatre Group kicks off 2019/20 Main Series Season with 'Waiting for Godot'

Posted 10/2/19

The Wilbury Theatre Group opens its 2019/20 Main Series season with Samuel Beckett's existential masterpiece Waiting for Godot, which runs in performances through October …

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Wilbury Theatre Group kicks off 2019/20 Main Series Season with 'Waiting for Godot'

Posted

The Wilbury Theatre Group opens its 2019/20 Main Series season with Samuel Beckett's existential masterpiece Waiting for Godot, which runs in performances through October 20.

Directed for The Wilbury Group by Fred Sullivan Jr. in his Wilbury debut and starring Richard Donelly and Tom Gleadow as Beckett's lovable tramps Gogo and Didi, Beckett's hilarious and heartbreaking masterpiece remains, after innumerable productions worldwide over the past 65 years, “a witty and poetic conundrum” (The Guardian), “humorous and deeply human” (The Press), “entertainment of a high order” (NY Times) and “something that will securely lodge in a corner of your mind for as long as you live” (The Sunday Times).

"Like so many in the theatre, reading Waiting for Godot was one of my earliest encounters with Samuel Beckett's incredible skill as a storyteller," said Wilbury Artistic Director Josh Short, "a skill that still today is capable of making audiences cry tears of laughter and existential despair simultaneously. We're thrilled to have Fred Sullivan working with us on this production, and between his sure direction and absolute passion for the play, not to mention the incredible cast that we've assembled for it, Waiting for Godot is the perfect vehicle to kick off our ninth season."

Waiting for Godot is presented at The Wilbury Theatre Group, 40 Sonoma Court, Providence. Tickets are $15-$38. For the complete performance schedule call 400-7100 or visit The Wilbury Theatre Group online at thewilburygroup.org/waiting-for-godot.

Originally written by playwright Samuel Beckett in French in the late 1940s, En attendant Godot premiered on January 5, 1953, at the 233-seat Théâtre de Babylone in Paris, a year after an abridged version of the play was performed at the Club d’Essai de la Radio’s studio for broadcast on French radio. Waiting for Godot received its US premiere on January 3, 1956, at the Coconut Grove Playhouse in Florida, with its Broadway premiere following in April of that same year. In the 60 years since debuting, Godot has been hailed as a modern masterpiece and become one of Samuel Beckett's most often-produced plays, with the iconic roles of Didi and Gogo being filled in revivals by such iconic pairings as Ian McCellan and Patrick Stewart, Robin Williams and Steve Martin, Nathan Lane and Bill Irwin,

Directed by Fred Sullivan Jr. in his Wilbury debut, this production of Waiting for Godot features the return of well-known Rhode Island actors Richard Donelly (The Caretaker) and Tom Gleadow (The Threepenny Opera) to The Wilbury Theatre Group as Gogo and Didi, respectfully. Additionally, this production marks the Wilbury Group debuts of Brandon Whitehead as Pozzo, local actor Zachary Gibb as Lucky, and the return of Paige Barlow and Hayley Pezza (of Fun Home) sharing the role of Boy. 

The play follows Didi and Gogo as they dally by the side of the road. They are expecting the imminent arrival of another man. They’ve asked this man for nothing very definite, but eagerly anticipate his reply. And though they admit that they do not know him well and won’t even recognize him when they see him, they wait. They wait for Godot.

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