Second Star to the Right: Waiting for Guildhall

Estragon: We always find something, eh Didi, to give us the impression we exist?
Vladimir: Yes, yes, we're magicians.
― Samuel Beckett, Waiting for Godot

I was quite puzzled today, but my feelings towards a certain play called Waiting for Godot. This play, written by Samuel Beckett, really bored me when I first read it in preparation for class. It didn't help that all my peers that had already read it previously referred to it as the play where "nothing happens twice." I found this to be mostly true. The story, for those of you who are unfamiliar, is of two men, Estragon and Vladimir who are waiting beside a tree for an unknown man named Godot. They try to find ways to pass the time and are unable to bring themselves to leave because they don't want to miss Godot when he comes. I am puzzled because I found myself incredibly bored, but there were moment in the reading that the words really reached out and grabbed you. Moments where you swear there is some sort of meaning and deepness, and suddenly the play has returned to meandering thoughts about needing to pee and eating carrots. I had convinced myself that I was not fond of the play, and then we decided to go and see it. Then I puzzled some more.

Rewinding a bit before that, this morning we had classes at the wonderful Hyde Park Chapel, the usual spot. I had to stop and appreciate the building today because often we just walk in and out, but it really is a beautiful building. It's impressive because it acts not only as a chapel, but a visitors center as well, while also serving the needs of traveling students like ourselves! In class we talked about A Small Family Business for George's class, and about our reading of Romeo and Juliet for Brett's class. Ben and I were laughing because our class usually struggles to get a good conversation going because everyone is typically tired, most the girls seemed very invigorated by the subject matter today. I never knew that so many people were a fan of Juliet. I'm excited to see Romeo and Juliet at the Rose theatre this Friday, hoping that it will change my mind about the way I have always felt about that text. Shakespeare is brilliant, but this has never been one of my favorites of his.

Class got out early so that we could travel as a group to Guildhall, and museum and library in the business portion of town. We were all laughing because we were the only ones walking through that part of town that were not dressed up in a suit or a dress. At the Guildhall library we went to a display where they were showing Shakespeare's First Folio! It has been so fascinating to learn more about Shakespeare and the history surrounding his writings and plays. Apparently most of Shakespeare's plays were not published while he was alive. One of the biggest fears that playwrights had was that their work would be stolen by other companies. Full scripts were not often written or released. Even the cast members only received the portions of the script that applied to their characters. It wasn't until after Shakespeare's death that they began to gather his works to be published! I feel that we are lucky to still have access to these plays now, and that they have managed to survive for this long! The folios on display were amazing!

After our tour of the library, we made our way over to the museum to see a display they had of a Roman colosseum that they discovered when breaking ground for Guildhall. They created this peculiar little space beneath the modern building that has some of the original items and structures found there. It was also pretty weird because they had this whole display set up that showed what it would have looked like to have warriors in the colosseum. They had these green figures lit up in the dark room that looked like something from Tron.

By this point it was past my usual lunch time, so I was feeling a little hangry (angry due to hunger), so I quickly made my way back to the flats to make a sandwich! I told myself I would take a short little nap...and woke up three hours later. It was fine because I felt so good afterwards, so I must have needed that! Ben, Dallin, and I then started making our way to the tube stop to go and see Waiting for Godot. Apparently I was still partially asleep because I left my ticket back at the flats, so I ran back, grabbed my ticket, ate some more food really quickly, and then hopped on the tube and made my way over. It was quite a journey because we had to go out decently far, and I took the Overground line, something I had never done before. I'm very familiar with the Underground and have taken the Double Decker buses several time, but this was my first venture on the Overground. I found myself surprisingly confused, but managed to figure it out! Crushed it! It's funny, because I remember looking at the tube map and thinking it looked so crazy, but now it just makes so much sense!

The Aboveground took me out to a new area that I had never been to before called Dalston. It's a lovely little part of town that had a more small town feel to it. It was definitely less touristy, which meant that the food there was pretty cheap as well! I had to tear myself away from a little cafe that doubled as a bookstore in order to run over to the Arcola Theatre. The theatre was so fun! It's a little smaller than some of the other venues we have been to recently, only seating about 140 people. It had a very rustic feel, as it was made from old bricks and metals. The whole main floor acts as a cafe and a bar, and then the actual theater is in the basement. The theater was set in the round, and the set was so cool. As is usual for Godot, there was one tree on stage, but then the rest of it was covered with piles of bricks and the ground was made to look like an broken up concrete or something similar to it. It really just felt like we were walking into an unfinished basement of sorts. There was even water dripping from an exposed pipe onto the floor. (Upon returning home I googled the theater just to make sure that it really wasn't broken down. Yep, the theater usually looks nice, but they made it look really broken down for the show. How cool).

The performance was fascinating. Just like when I was reading the book, I found myself bored and fascinated at the same time. The cast was great and played the parts well, infusing some humor into their parts, but you couldn't help but let your thoughts wander at points due to the very nature of the play. Two guys are sitting there waiting under a tree, and you are witnessing their conversations and thoughts. It's complicated a bit when characters like Pozzo and Lucky are introduced, and they reference Christ and the crucifixion. In an interview with the author of the play, he said that he did not write it with Godot representing God, but I couldn't stop my thoughts from going in that direction. The production was fun an the cast did really well, and I will probably be thinking about this play for a while. And perhaps that's what Samuel Beckett meant to do when he wrote it, invite those that see it to think about what they have just witnessed.

VLADIMIR: What do they say?
ESTRAGON: They talk about their lives.
VLADIMIR: To have lived is not enough for them.
ESTRAGON: They have to talk about it.
― Samuel Beckett, Waiting for Godot

Flashback photo to Indian food yesterday