Beckett: Waiting for Godot: (Plays in Production)

Waiting for Godot is a byword in every major world language. No other twentieth-century play has achieved such global currency. His innovations have affected not only the writing of plays, but all aspects of their staging. In this book David Bradby explores the impact of the play and its influence on acting, directing, design, and the role of theatre in society. Bradby begins with an analysis of the play and its historical context. After discussing the first productions in France, Britain and America, he examines subsequent productions in Africa, Eastern Europe, Israel, America, China and Japan. The book assesses interpretations by actors such as Bert Lahr, David Warrilow, Georges Wilson, Barry McGovern and Ben Kingsley, and directors Roger Blin, Susan Sontag, Sir Peter Hall, Luc Bondy, Yukio Ninagawa and Beckett himself. It also contains an extensive production chronology, bibliography and illustrations from major productions.

Table of Contents:
List of productions; Introduction; 1. Beckett before Waiting for Godot; 2. Waiting for Godot - the play; 3. The first production: Theatre de Babylone, January 1953; 4. The first productions in English: Arts Theatre, London, August 1955 and Pike Theatre, Dublin, October 1955; 5. Early productions in the United States: Coconut Grove, Miami, January 1956 and Actor's Workshop of San Francisco 1957; 6. Beckett's own production: Schiller-Theater, Berlin, March 1975; 7. 'Fail again. Fail better.': productions in Avignon, Prague, Munich, Holland and Japan; 8. Godot in political context: productions in Belgrade, Sarajevo, South Africa, Palestine, Quebec, Paris and China; 9. Productions at the end of the twentieth century; Conclusion; Bibliography; Index.

About the Author :
David Bradby is Professor of Drama and Theatre Studies and Dean of Arts at Royal Holloway, University of London. Awarded the Chevalier des Arts et Lettres (Republique Francaise) in 1997. He is a leading expert in the areas of modern theatre, especially French drama. He has translated plays by Bernard-Marie Koltès and Michel Vinaver and directed many productions with student casts, including the first English-language production of Pirandello's The Mountain Giants. His books include Mise en Scene: French Theatre Now, co-authored with Annie Sparks (Methuen, 1997); The Theatre of Michel Vinaver (Michigan University Press, 1993), Modern French Drama, 1940–1990 (Cambridge, 1991) and Director's Theatre, co-authored with David Williams (Macmillan, 1988). David Bradby is General Editor of the series Cambridge Studies in Modern Theatre.

Review :
'... an excellent historical account of Waiting for Godot in performance, covering an impressive range of productions ... Beckett: Waiting for Godot is certainly an invaluable source of information for anyone interested in staging the play.' Theatre Research International '... this is a first-rate guide to the multiple ways this text has been made to work.' English Studies 'David Bradby's contribution to Cambridge University Press's fine series Plays In Production is a superb volume on Waiting for Godot ... a most welcome addition ... It is elegantly written, well presented, and immensely helpful through the wealth of information, insights, and analysis it presents in a very handy format.' Becket Circle Newsletter 'David Bradby provides the first comprehensive survey of the key production of Samuel Beckett's most renowned dramatic work and a refreshing assessment of the genesis of the play within its cultural contexts ... the book sits usefully on the shelf of anyone with an interest not only in Beckett's theatrical achievement, but in issues of play authorship and the interfaces between actors, directors, designers and a playscript or its author. The writing would attract and interest the general reader as well as the scholar, student, actor, director or designer and the work as a whole represents a useful sourcebook and a fascinating and readable account of the history of this most celebrated of plays.' Studies in Theatre and Performance