FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, April 13, 2009
Contact: Robert Preston, Jr.,
912.260.4276
robert.preston@sgc.edu
SGC Theatre Company to produce Waiting for Godot
The SGC Theatre Company is putting the finishing touches on
one of its most ambitious projects of the year. Under the direction of
Andrew DiNicola, professor of English and learning support, the theatre
company will perform its adaptation of the Irish playwright Samuel Beckett’s
(1906—1989) ground-breaking drama Waiting for Godot (1952).
Performances will take place in the Black Box Theater (Room 142) inside
Peterson Hall on the following dates: Wednesday, April 22 at 2 p.m.;
Thursday, April 23 at 7 p.m. and Friday, April 24 at 7 p.m. The performances
are free and open to the public.
A masterful work created by Beckett, Waiting for Godot ushered in what has
been since termed by literary critics the Theatre of the Absurd. Situated on
a heap of dirt upon whose pinnacle sprouts a tree struggling to survive
despite its inhospitable environment, the action of the play is driven by
the presence of two men, tramps (hoboes) -- Vladimir, affectionately called
Didi, and Estragon, affectionately called Gogo -- who spend two acts waiting
for a man named Godot whom they believe will save them from their misery.
To pass the time, the men engage in conversations, exercises, relaxations,
and a number of other seemingly meaningless and mundane activities. In the
midst of their occasional tedium, they are visited by another hobo named
Pozzo who is traveling with his slave, Lucky. When these two others arrive
on the scene, the absurdity of the play becomes clearly evident because
Lucky appears as a menial who has a rope around his neck and whose sole
purpose is to please his master, Pozzo.
Indeed, the absurdity of Lucky’s condition becomes the focal piece for the
meaningful dialogue that ensues; but the opportunity for these men to engage
in academic discourse quickly plunges from a meaningful concern for Lucky to
a burlesque-like treatment of the human condition. This digression occurs
amidst the inclusion of intermittent comic relief that is conspicuously
peppered throughout the play as a means to keep the audience from sinking
into the fear and despair that the play seeks to resolve. Beckett’s
tragicomedy is considered by many to be the most important play of the
twentieth century in its reflection of the angst and the futile attempts by
mankind to grab hold of meaning in the midst of the utter hopelessness and
despair of the postmodern world. Nevertheless, this production of the play
by the SGC Theatre Company---unlike many other productions that overtly rely
on the hopelessness and the despair as the theme of Beckett’s play -- will
seek to bring the undercurrent of hope and possibility that we believe
exists within the play to the forefront of the audience’s imagination.
Unlike other productions that have sought to capitalize on the
meaninglessness, even the absurdity of Beckett’s presentation or to dismiss
it as the ironic hoax of a playwright without a purpose, our aim will be to
bring a message that is contrary to the meaninglessness and nothingness that
is oftentimes glibly assigned to the Beckettian world. Instead, we will seek
to bring a message of hope and possibility to our audience just as we
believe Beckett tried to do in the corpus of his work.
Below is a brief synopsis of the characters:
-
Vladimir (Didi): A pensive man whose thoughts at times
lead him to ponder the human condition.
-
Estragon (Gogo): Didi’s friend whose somewhat carefree
and playful demeanor helps to add levity to the otherwise overbearing
seriousness of the play.
-
Pozzo: A bombastic, arrogant, delusional rogue whose
self-absorption is the height of absurdity; that is, until he is struck
with blindness.
-
Lucky: Pozzo’s menial whose submission to Pozzo serves
as a springboard for a concern for the human condition.
-
A Boy: The messenger for Godot, the boy brings the
message to the tramps that Godot will not arrive as they hoped he would.
-
Godot: A character in name only and the subject of much
discussion, he never appears.
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About South Georgia College
South Georgia College (www.sgc.edu)
was founded in 1906 and is a two-year institution in the University System
of Georgia. Located in Douglas, Ga., the college's environment gives
students exceptional opportunities for interdisciplinary study and close
collaboration with faculty.
