History Theatre / WaitingForGodot

A famously surreal "tragicomedy" by Creator/SamuelBeckett. Probably the best known example of the [[{{Absurdism}} Theatre of the Absurd]]. The story concerns [[ThoseTwoGuys these two guys]], Vladimir and Estragon (Didi and Gogo for short), who spend most of their time hanging out by a tree on a lonely road in a barren and nondescript land, waiting for someone named Godot, [[ItWasHisSled who never comes.]] They have several brief but intense encounters with an UpperClassTwit named Pozzo and his servant, Lucky. During the course of the play they wonder where Godot is, eat carrots, contemplate suicide, wonder where Godot is, discuss the Gospels, share dirty jokes, [[RuleOfThree wonder where Godot is]], exchange hats, [[VolleyingInsults volley insults]] with each other, [[OverlyLongGag wonder where Godot is]], and gradually succumb to existential angst and ennui.

* SpiritualSuccessor: ''Series/{{Bottom}}'', amazingly (particularly from their West End production of it). It features Rik Mayall, Ade Edmondson and Christopher Ryan, who played (respectively) Rick, Vyvyan and Mike in ''Series/TheYoungOnes''. Go figure! Further screwed around with by the early '90s production with Rick and Ade... and Christopher playing Lucky!

* CainAndAbel: Discussed.

** Beckett was very insistent that none of the characters be [[GenderFlip gender-flipped]], even taking legal action against casts that tried it. This, of course, has not stopped all-female productions from being staged.
** The general rule is that the actors can be female, but they have to play the parts as male.

* DestructiveRomance[=/=]WithFriendsLikeThese: Estragon thinks they're this. He often says they should break up, but never takes any action to actually do so.

* TheGayNineties: Briefly alluded to by Vladimir.
** Beckett later decided that mentioning any specific time was a mistake. The performing text of the play now reads "a million years ago, when the world was young".
* TheGhost: Godot.

* HeterosexualLifePartners: Vladimir and Estragon.
** Pozzo and Lucky too, in kind of a twisted way.

* HumanPackMule: Lucky is a canonical example.

* HypercompetentSidekick: Lucky in many interpretations.

* ItCantBeHelped: "Nothing to be done" (four times).
* ItsAllAboutMe: Pozzo, at first.

* MindScrew: Try to watch it (or reading it) and not come out confused. {{Lampshaded}}:

* NoEnding[=/=]WhatNowEnding: Godot never shows up, but Vladimir and Estragon can't bring themselves to leave.

* OldRetainer: Lucky.

* OverlyPolitePals: The play seems to be an existential version of an Alphonse and Gaston routine.

* PuttingOnMyThinkingCap: Lucky, obviously.

* RashomonStyle: Vladimir points out that the gospels contain an early example of this.

* UpperClassTwit: Pozzo.

* VagabondBuddies: Didi and Gogo.

* WordSaladPhilosophy: Lucky again.

* SesameStreetCred: Amazingly, the play was parodied on ''Series/SesameStreet'' in the "Monsterpiece Theatre" sketch ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ksL_7WrhWOc Waiting for Elmo]]'', complete with generous satire of TrueArtIsIncomprehensible. That takes both ParentalBonus and ViewersAreGeniuses UpToEleven.

* AllThereInTheManual: "Godot" comes from the Irish "Go Deo" (pronounced relatively similarly to the US and Canadian English pronunciation of "Godot") which means "forever". Samuel Beckett, as is often forgotten, was an Irishman.
** However, "Go Deo" would be more accurately written in phonetic French as something more like Gojot, not Godot.
** Alternatively: Beckett pretends that the name Godot is derived from a French slang for "shoe", ''godillot''. The play is mainly concerned with duality, you see. And there was also a French Track Cyclist called Roger Godeau, for whom the cycling buff Beckett himself waited.
** It may even be a ShoutOut. The play ''The Maker'' (''Le Faiseur'') by the famous French novelist Creator/HonoreDeBalzac features an in debt speculator, Mercadet. His favorite excuse for not paying his creditors was pretending to be waiting for his associate, Godeau (same pronunciation as Godot, in French) to come back from India with a lot of money. As one would expect, Godeau never shows up.

* TheGayNineties: Briefly alluded to by Vladimir. Becomes a FunnyAneurysmMoment when "a million years ago, in the nineties" takes on a new meaning in the 21st Century.

Famously described by one critic as "a play in which nothing happens, twice." Inspired, among other things, ''Theatre/RosencrantzAndGuildensternAreDead'', and (surprisingly) ''Series/{{Bottom}}''. Has no relation to [[VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorney a certain coffee-loving prosecutor]]. [[ShoutOut/AceAttorney Maybe.]]

* ItIsPronouncedTroPAY: For some reason, most Americans still have it in their heads after all this time that it's pronounced "Go-DOT" instead of "GO-dot". And most Canadians, thanks to mandatory French lessons, as well as the ''Franchise/AceAttorney'' fandom, think it's "Go-DOH".

* ItIsPronouncedTroPAY: For some reason, most Americans still have it in their heads after all this time that it's pronounced "Go-DOT" instead of "GO-dot". And most Canadians, thanks to mandatory French lessons, think it's "Go-DOH".

* HomoeroticSubtext: [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waiting_for_Godot#Homoerotic Tons of it.]]

* SpiritualSuccessor: ''Series/{{Bottom}}'', amazingly (particularly from their West End production of it). It features Rik Mayall, Ade Edmondson and Christopher Ryan, who played (respectively) Rick, Vyvian and Mike in ''Series/TheYoungOnes''. Go figure! Further screwed around with by the early '90s production with Rick and Ade... and Christopher playing Lucky!

* BlackComedy

* OntologicalMystery

* RandomEventsPlot

* SecondaryCharacterTitle

* SurrealHumour

* WorldLimitedToThePlot

** The 2009/2010 Berliner Ensemble performance had Didi and Gogo getting into discussions with the prompt. It was quite subdued and casual, and the actors were so in tune with each other it didn't seem at all disrespectful towards Beckett.

** It ''was'' originally in French.
** Samuel Beckett, however, was Irish, and did a bit of play on words by spelling "Go Deo" ("forever") as it would be in French.
** The correct UK- and Hiberno-English pronunciation of Godot is "GOD-oh". In spite of the fact that it is meant to be a French name, Beckett intended for the stress to be on the first syllable. Also, this makes the absent god allegory that much more explicit (but still unintentional).

* UrExample: For the BritCom format -- a couple of losers in a bizarre situation have their lives disrupted by a couple of even crazier characters.

** Alternatively: Beckett pretends that the name Godot is derived from a French slang for "shoe", ''godillot''. The play is mainly concerned with duality, you see.

A famously surreal "tragicomedy" by Creator/SamuelBeckett. Probably the best known example of the [[{{Absurdism}} Theatre of the Absurd]]. The story concerns [[ThoseTwoGuys these two guys]], Vladimir and Estragon (Didi and Gogo for short), who spend most of their time hanging out by a tree on a lonely road in a barren and nondescript land, waiting for someone named Godot, [[ItWasHisSled who never comes.]] They have several brief but intense encounters with an UpperClassTwit named Pozzo and his servant, Lucky. During the course of the play they wonder where Godot is, eat carrots, contemplate suicide, wonder where Godot is, discuss the Gospels, share dirty jokes, [[RuleOfThree wonder where Godot is]], exchange hats, volley insults at each other, [[OverlyLongGag wonder where Godot is]], and gradually succumb to existential angst and ennui.

A famously surreal "tragicomedy" by Creator/SamuelBeckett. Probably the best known example of the [[{{Absurdism}} Theatre of the Absurd]]. The story concerns [[ThoseTwoGuys these two guys]], Vladimir and Estragon (Didi and Gogo for short), who spend most of their time sitting by a lonely road, waiting for someone named Godot, who never comes. They have several brief but intense encounters with an UpperClassTwit named Pozzo and his servant, Lucky. In the course of the play, they wonder where Godot is, eat carrots, contemplate suicide, wonder where Godot is, discuss the Gospels, share dirty jokes, [[RuleOfThree wonder where Godot is]], exchange hats, and gradually succumb to existential angst and ennui. It was famously described by one critic as "a play in which nothing happens, twice."

Inspired, among other things, ''Theatre/RosencrantzAndGuildensternAreDead'', and (surprisingly) ''Series/{{Bottom}}''. Has no relation to [[VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorney a certain coffee-loving prosecutor]]. [[ShoutOut/AceAttorney Maybe.]]

** It may even be a ShoutOut. The play ''The Maker'' by the famous French novelist Creator/HonoreDeBalzac features an in debt speculator, Mercadet. His favorite excuse for not paying his creditors was pretending to be waiting for his associate, Godeau (same pronunciation as Godot, in French) to come back from India with a lot of money. As one would expect, Godeau never shows up.

-->'''Pozzo''': I am blind\\

* ButtMonkey: Estragon is the more unfortunate of the main two, getting kicked by Lucky and regularly being beaten by a gang. Lucky is also this due to Pozzo's abuse

-> Pozzo: He is angry

* {{Foreshadowing}}: During Pozzo's outburst, he mentions not being to stand the way Lucky "goes on" anymore. Cut later to Lucky thinking...

* GroinAttack: Didi and Pozzo suggest doing this to Pozzo and Lucky respectively in order to get them to stand up in act 2.

* ItIsPronouncedTroPAY: For some reasons, most Americans still have it in their heads after all this time that it's pronounced "Go-DOT" instead of "GO-dot". And most Canadians, thanks to mandatory French lessons, think it's "Go-DOH".

* MindScrew: Try to watch it (or reading it) and not come out confused. Lampshaded:

* MinimalistCast: There are only four characters (and the messenger boy).
* MoodWhiplash: A guy takes off his belt to hang himself -- and his trousers fall down.

** The HumanPackMule was actually established by Creator/CharlieChaplin in his 1915 installment ''Work'', where The Tramp is seen dragging a cart full of Equipment, while his employer constantly whips him onwards. Beckett could possibly have been inspired for the Pozzo/Lucky-pairing by this movie. Chaplin´s employer in this Movie is called ''Izzy'', by the way, ringing close to the name "Pozzo" (and Chaplin is, as always, "lucky" in some ironic way). To stress this a little further, Lucky can only speak/think when he has a particular hat on (as the Tramp was a Silent Era character, he would die when he began to talk, according to WordOfGod, i.e. Chaplin himself).

* TakeThatCritics: During their match of VolleyingInsults, Estragon wins by calling Vladimir "a crrritic!"

* AerithAndBob: Vladimir is a somewhat exotic name, but still real. Estragon, however, is French for Tarragon, a culinary herb.

** Possibly the entire play. If you criticize it for lacking something (plot, character, meaning), well, it worked!

* TheUnReveal: To answer your question, [[spoiler:no, we never get to see Godot]].

** The HumanPackMule was actually established by Creator/CharlieChaplin in his 1915 installment ''Work'', where The Tramp is seen dragging a cart full of Equipment, while his employer constantly whips him onwards. Beckett could possibly have been inspired for the Pozzo/Lucky-pairing by this movie. To stress this a little further, Lucky can only speak/think when he has a particular hat on (as the Tramp was a Silent Era character, he would die when he began to talk, according to WordOfGod, i.e. Chaplin himself).

** The HumanPackMule was actually established by Creator/CharlieChaplin in his 1915 installment ''Work'', where The Tramp is seen dragging a cart full of Equipment, while his employer constantly whips him onwards. Beckett could possibly have been inspired for the Pozzo/Lucky-pairing by this movie. To stress this a little further, Lucky can only speak when his hat is removed (as the Tramp was a Silent Era character, he would die when he began to talk, according to WordOfGod, i.e. Chaplin himself).

** When Vladimir and Estragon discuss whether they've been in the location before, the line "that bog" is traditionally delivered with a gesture towards the audience.

A famously surreal "tragicomedy" by Creator/SamuelBeckett. Probably the best known example of the [[{{Absurdism}} Theatre of the Absurd]]. The story concerns [[ThoseTwoGuys these two guys]], Vladimir and Estragon (Didi and Gogo for short), who spend most of their time sitting by a lonely road, waiting for someone named Godot, who never comes. They have several brief but intense encounters with an UpperClassTwit named Pozzo and his servant, Lucky. In the course of the play, they wonder where Godot is, eat carrots, contemplate suicide, wonder where Godot is, discuss the Gospels, share dirty jokes, [[RuleOfThree wonder where Godot is]], exchange hats, and gradually succumb to existential angst and ennui.

* {{Absurdism}}: One of the most famous examples of the Theatre of the Absurd, probably rivalled only by ''Theatre/WhosAfraidOfVirginiaWoolf'', ''Theatre/RosencrantzAndGuildensternAreDead'', and ''maybe'' ''Theatre/TheBaldSoprano''. It is also the GenrePopularizer.

**

* ButtMonkey: Estragon is the more unfortunate of the main two, getting kicked by Lucky and regularly being beaten by a gang. Luck is also this due to Pozzo's abuse

* VitriolicBestBuds: Vladimir and Estragon, at times. Pozzo and Lucky provide a darker take on the trope.
* TheVoiceless: Lucky, most of the time.
* VolleyingInsults: Vladimir and Estragon have a nice shouting match like this.

* ManChild: Estragon, at times.