Review: Waiting For Godot, Arches Lane Theatre

A text as notorious as it is respected, Beckett’s Godot has enjoyed both celebration and condemnation in past productions, and this outing in Battersea proves no different. Sadly, it merits more of the latter than the former, though some lights shine bright in this troubled rendition of a classic.

The action of the majority of the play revolves around Vladimir (Rich Allen) and Estragon (Steve Broad) and their constant bickering while they wait for the enigmatic Godot. Because we’re with these two for so much of the play, and there’s so little going on generally, their performances are key. Yet the duo here are quite uneven; Allen’s delivery is often flat and disconnected from the emotion of the moment, while opposite him, Broad plays Estragon with an affable and instinctive warmth. There are layers to his performance that Allen does not reflect, leaving both feeling quite apart. Whether this is the actor’s instinct or directorial intent from Leo Bacica, the effect makes the pair hard to care about. 

The duo are eventually joined by Pozzo (Kunal Narwani) and Lucky (Mark Muravjov) for further absurd action, and while Narwani and Muravjov show strong potential as actors their performances once again feel out of sync with what’s around them; ultimately for such a performer-reliant show this production too often feels as if it’s actors are on stage as individuals and not part of a wider whole.

The production is also notable for its strong creative decisions, though few pay off. Sparse references to contemporary London are notable in the beginning but completely disappear afterwards, making their inclusion simply vestigial. The decision to have Lucky recite his ‘thinking’ to a hip hop beat really doesn’t land. In contrast, the costumes are well-designed, and the tree near which so much waiting happens is quite artistically done, made from steel pipes, complementing a bare set design that fits the absurd text well.

But after all this, things draw to an end with an agonising crawl. Keeping all the above in mind, this production somehow brings the play’s total runtime to nearly 3 hours, which is well over the length of typical productions and certainly over the advertised duration. It’s hard to say where this extra runtime has been introduced, but for the sake of the play’s pacing, it’s in desperate need of addressing for future potential stagings. One doesn’t want to be left feeling a similar plight to Vladimir and Estragon quite as viscerally as this.

Written by Samuel Beckett
Directed by Leo Bacica

Waiting For Godot runs at the Arches Lane Theatre until Sunday 7 June