Existential angst and sly comedy are on full display at the Andrews Theatre in ICTC’s brilliant production of the Samuel Beckett classic absurdist play.

An Existential Tome

Existential angst and sly comedy are on full display at the Andrews Theatre in ICTC’s brilliant production of the Samuel Beckett classic absurdist play, Waiting for Godot, “the vehicle for the Brothers O’Neill coming to Buffalo and putting down roots more than 30 years ago”, according to the Director’s Notes by Kate LoConti Alcocer, ICTC’s Executive Artistic Director.

Irish playwright Beckett wrote the play in French some years after Jean Paul Sartre’s existential tome, Being and Nothingness, was published. Existentialism rejects the idea that life has inherent meaning, but instead requires each person to posit his or her own subjective values. In other words, it’s a crapshoot folks, and we are all living in our own illusions, each life being “a tale told by an idiot, signifying nothing”, as another well-known playwright put it some years back.

Lovable Tramps

As the tramps, Vincent O’Neill as Vladimir and Brian Mysliwy as Estragon are superb. Their timing is perfect as they play off each other, their dialogue going round and round and round until they exhaust themselves, and then begin all over again in the same place, Estragon limping from too tight boots, exuding weariness and hopelessness, while Vladimir, like a mischievous elf, tricks and cajoles his friend into believing there will be relief from their misery, while trying to convince himself at the same time. Watching these two expertly handle the convoluted, at times incomprehensible dialogue is pure pleasure. At the heart of it all is their friendship of over 50 years, which they openly celebrate and is their saving grace in their otherwise fraught existence, and which Mssrs. O’Neill and Mysliwy play so well, one can picture them as young lads tramping about and expecting life to be more of a lark than the burden it has become.

Well Played

Two new characters appear midway through Act One, Pozzo and Lucky. The well-dressed, well-tended Pozzo uses Lucky as a beast of burden for some unspecified past transgression. Todd Benzin is excellent as Pozzo. He has the air of one who is used to being served, a posh boy with all the trappings of wealth and belief in his own worthiness, but just as befuddled as the tramps at the same time. Well played.

Ben Michael Moran’s turn as the luckless Lucky, is mesmerizing – once he actually speaks. In a lengthy monologue, nothing he says makes any sense at all, and yet, and yet, one cannot take one’s eyes off him. His facial expressions and hand gestures while he talks on and on are hypnotic. The audience broke into spontaneous applause when he was finally “turned off.”

15-year-old Jackson Snodgrass does a fine job as “a boy.” He has very little dialogue in this dialogue-driven play but is charming as the young goat herd who delivers an important message to the tramps at the end of each day. Teddy Hibbard understudies this role.

Director Josephine Hogan keeps the tramps circling around the center tree in simulation of their plight as they circle each other and go in circles in their endless dialogue. The songs and music Sound Designer Tom Makar chose to use before the play opens in both acts fits perfectly with the tone of the play.

Perfect Tale for the Times

Vladimir states, “I begin to weary of this motif”, as would the audience in less adept hands. But fear not, this production of Waiting for Godot shines in every aspect, is extremely entertaining, and is a perfect tale for the times. We have been going round and round for almost two years, waiting, waiting for the good news that will free us. Hopefully, unlike Vladimir and Estragon, we will not be waiting much longer.

If you are vaccinated and masked-up, give yourself the gift of live theater. You can do no better than to see Waiting for Godot at Irish Classical Theatre through February 13^th. Kudos to everyone involved in this production.