The Ephemeral Art of Waiting...
A Review with Pictures
By Mike McShane
January 31, 2017
By Mike McShane
January 31, 2017
A man sits alone on a triangle having a very difficult time. Estragon (Dean Carvalho) dons a disheveled cowboy hat trying to pull off his boots. Vladimir (Adam Lishawa) in a duster and a leather hat hobbles on with a pain in his lower extremities. Vladimir and Estragon's bodies are breaking down, but their wits are about them -- for the most part.
Waiting for Godot: A Tragicomedy by Samuel Beckett is a play about best buds. You can only be buddies to subject yourselves to two acts of Beckett. It would be a horrible time if the actors playing these roles hated one another. Adam Lishawa and Dean Carvahlo have been tied together onstage since local playwright Chuck Lipsig's political satire Hometown Knights. They followed that with Steve Martin’s adaptation of Carl Sternheim’s The Underpants. Both of which were directed by Jessica Arnold at the Acrosstown Repertory Theatre. Adam Lishawa and Dean Carvahlo knew wholeheartedly that they had chemistry onstage together. They feel each other’s rhythms as actors. They trust each other. So much so that they made a vow. Somehow, someway, somewhere they would put on a very complex play. Which play? This one!
Waiting for Godot: A Tragicomedy by Samuel Beckett is a play about best buds. You can only be buddies to subject yourselves to two acts of Beckett. It would be a horrible time if the actors playing these roles hated one another. Adam Lishawa and Dean Carvahlo have been tied together onstage since local playwright Chuck Lipsig's political satire Hometown Knights. They followed that with Steve Martin’s adaptation of Carl Sternheim’s The Underpants. Both of which were directed by Jessica Arnold at the Acrosstown Repertory Theatre. Adam Lishawa and Dean Carvahlo knew wholeheartedly that they had chemistry onstage together. They feel each other’s rhythms as actors. They trust each other. So much so that they made a vow. Somehow, someway, somewhere they would put on a very complex play. Which play? This one!
But where? It takes a lot of work for nothing to be done. This play is a serious undertaking. A lengthy undertaking. How do you make a play that is so steeped in the muck and mire of academic and scholarly study and expectations your own? The last time Waiting for Godot was performed at the Acrosstown Repertory Theatre was in 1998. It was directed by Shakespeare and Modern Drama scholar Dr. Sidney Homan.
This production has Jessica Arnold at the helm as the Director. She was asked to work with her veteran actors at the Acrosstown Repertory Theatre once more. Here is the chance for a local theatre to turn two local actor's dreams into a reality. The timing of these events couldn’t have been more perfect for Waiting for Godot to make a comeback. Let me shed some light on the subject as to why you must see what this collection of highly gifted artists has put together.
A lot of productions have Waiting for Godot take place in a variety of settings. This one takes place in a desert. The geometric scenic design is simply beautiful. Look at it! The floor treatment makes it seem like the sand is real. You expect to watch footprints form. Triangular uneven platforms create a barrier between the actors and a very expensive rear-projection screen. The screen is a shadow box. Silhouettes of dunes are visible on what is an infinite horizon. A huge twig that could be, oh -- I don’t know, a willow -- dominates upstage center. It climbs higher than the architectural beams of the theatre.
This production has Jessica Arnold at the helm as the Director. She was asked to work with her veteran actors at the Acrosstown Repertory Theatre once more. Here is the chance for a local theatre to turn two local actor's dreams into a reality. The timing of these events couldn’t have been more perfect for Waiting for Godot to make a comeback. Let me shed some light on the subject as to why you must see what this collection of highly gifted artists has put together.
A lot of productions have Waiting for Godot take place in a variety of settings. This one takes place in a desert. The geometric scenic design is simply beautiful. Look at it! The floor treatment makes it seem like the sand is real. You expect to watch footprints form. Triangular uneven platforms create a barrier between the actors and a very expensive rear-projection screen. The screen is a shadow box. Silhouettes of dunes are visible on what is an infinite horizon. A huge twig that could be, oh -- I don’t know, a willow -- dominates upstage center. It climbs higher than the architectural beams of the theatre.
Estragon (a.k.a. Gogo) and Vladimir (a.k.a Didi) have been friends for some time. They are inseparable. The audience (that bog) waits for these two gents to arrive. Once the two arrive, the "bog" in turn gets to watch Vladamir and Estragon wait. Wait? Wait for whom?
Godot, Mr. Godot.
What does one do while waiting? Cajole? Eat a carrot? Perform bodily functions? Thankfully, the later happens offstage...
Hold on! You mean these two men can leave?
Yup. There are plenty of ways out on this set. This play is Waiting for Godot, not Jean Paul Sartre’s No Exit. Every body leaves.
A big booming bellow is heard from behind your seat that makes you jump! This boisterous sound comes from Esteban Alvarez III (Pozzo). He is led onstage by a bedraggled and rather peculiar…thing…carrying a basket with wine, a stool, and a very intimidating bullwhip. This “thing” is Lucky (M. Reagle). Lucky is on a rope leash: a precisely long rope leash. So long in fact that it wraps all the way around the theatre! Pozzo and Lucky are in a rather different relationship than Estragon and Vladimir. This is an abusive relationship. Pozzo calls Lucky almost everything condescending under the sun. Only a handful of times does Pozzo call his servant by name. Lucky is not allowed to talk or even glance at anyone unless told by Pozzo to do so. Their relationship is abrasive. So much so that it becomes funny. Why is Lucky on a leash? Lucky is being led to market to be sold.
Godot, Mr. Godot.
What does one do while waiting? Cajole? Eat a carrot? Perform bodily functions? Thankfully, the later happens offstage...
Hold on! You mean these two men can leave?
Yup. There are plenty of ways out on this set. This play is Waiting for Godot, not Jean Paul Sartre’s No Exit. Every body leaves.
A big booming bellow is heard from behind your seat that makes you jump! This boisterous sound comes from Esteban Alvarez III (Pozzo). He is led onstage by a bedraggled and rather peculiar…thing…carrying a basket with wine, a stool, and a very intimidating bullwhip. This “thing” is Lucky (M. Reagle). Lucky is on a rope leash: a precisely long rope leash. So long in fact that it wraps all the way around the theatre! Pozzo and Lucky are in a rather different relationship than Estragon and Vladimir. This is an abusive relationship. Pozzo calls Lucky almost everything condescending under the sun. Only a handful of times does Pozzo call his servant by name. Lucky is not allowed to talk or even glance at anyone unless told by Pozzo to do so. Their relationship is abrasive. So much so that it becomes funny. Why is Lucky on a leash? Lucky is being led to market to be sold.
“Nothing is funnier than human misery."
Samuel Beckett's Endgame
Samuel Beckett's Endgame
Esteban Alvarez III echoes Anthony Quinn’s Auda Abu Tayi in David Lean’s Lawrence of Arabia. His power onstage grabs the audience’s attention. He must get everyone’s attention. You can’t deny him that. Pozzo is an imposing personality. Earthshakingly strong maniacal and melodramatic laughter erupts from Pozzo at the drop of a hat. He’s a guy that can get whatever he wants. He must have money. Pozzo strives to be extremely Machiavellian. Esteban Alvarez III is allowed to do some serious acting. He delivers eloquently Beckett’s description of how the sun sets. It is quite moving. He is in the best spot in all of the Acrosstown Repertory Theatre while he waxes poetically. A moment of silence. Pozzo then railroads the serious moment to posture and preen bringing the subject back to the important things in life: himself. Esteban Alvarez III has brilliant comedic timing. He evokes the likes of Harry Secombe and Peter Sellers on the BBC radio show “The Goon Show.” Don’t worry, folks, Pozzo will get his. The next time we see Pozzo will be when he stumbles in blind causing a four-person pileup. It is a wreck that you cannot and should not look away from.
Speaking of wrecks, Lucky (M. Reagle) was at one point probably a very normal human being. Now Lucky is a slave. A back-broken Cailban. M. Reagle is a consummate Beckettian actor. Every pratfall and bit counters perfectly with the other actors onstage. Belabored comic breathing accompanies Lucky's attempts to attend to Pozzo's every whim. Pozzo is a ringmaster. Pozzo demands Lucky to dance. Lucky can’t dance very well. Pozzo clarifies Lucky's dance is called "A net. He's thinks he's entangled in a net." Estragon mockingly outdoes Lucky in strides with his own dance. Gogo and Didi can better entertain themselves, clearly.
Wait, Dean Carvahlo is a hoofer?
Never mind about that, let’s give Lucky a chance to think.
In Pozzo and Lucky’s sado-masochistic relationship, Lucky can only speak if he is given a certain hat. A blue hat in this case. Once that hat is placed on Lucky's head, everyone must stand back! Stuttering, selecting, spouting, spewing, shouting and howling; M. Reagle delivers a glorious monologue. No one rests onstage as they try and stop Lucky. The three men get entangled themselves in that precisely long rope as they attempt to wrangle Lucky. Lucky is stopped mid-thought when Vladimir bravely removes the blue hat. Lucky freezes. Unanimous and thunderous applause erupts from the audience. Lucky, instead of taking a rightfully deserved bow, does a full face-plant pratfall almost in the lap of the audience.
Wait, Dean Carvahlo is a hoofer?
Never mind about that, let’s give Lucky a chance to think.
In Pozzo and Lucky’s sado-masochistic relationship, Lucky can only speak if he is given a certain hat. A blue hat in this case. Once that hat is placed on Lucky's head, everyone must stand back! Stuttering, selecting, spouting, spewing, shouting and howling; M. Reagle delivers a glorious monologue. No one rests onstage as they try and stop Lucky. The three men get entangled themselves in that precisely long rope as they attempt to wrangle Lucky. Lucky is stopped mid-thought when Vladimir bravely removes the blue hat. Lucky freezes. Unanimous and thunderous applause erupts from the audience. Lucky, instead of taking a rightfully deserved bow, does a full face-plant pratfall almost in the lap of the audience.
Time, color, numbers and words mean nothing in the desert. What is that on the horizon constantly watching over the action? This grand figure looks as if it will arrive like Omar Sharif from way off in the distance. From out of the void, C. Hoyt (Boy) appears right on cue. C. Hoyt’s performance proves that in this particular world nothing is what it seems. The Boy is clad in beautiful flowing robes with a walking stick. The Boy is a magical force. C. Hoyt’s stoic delivery makes you want to believe that Mr. Godot will come…tomorrow.
Dean Carvahlo executes a skillfully crafted ballet (both literal and actual) opposite Adam Lishawa. Dean Carvahlo’s Estragon is outrageous, ridiculous and poignant. Estragon’s mind is starting to dry up and is willing only to continue playing if his friend Vladimir will keep up the ruse. Dean Carvahlo evokes Milton Berle at one point in the show walking on the sides of his feet with his boots half on/half off. It isn’t comfortable to be splayed out over the triangular rocky upstage. Especially if you are trying to catch a few Zzzs. One of the most entertaining bits Dean Carvahlo does as Estragon stems from his delirium in Act Two. While being offered every available exit the Acrosstown Repertory Theater has to offer, Estragon is willing to escape like Roger Rabbit through the several thousand-dollar rear-projection screen! “Imbecile!” Vladimir exclaims, “There’s no way out there!”
Adam Lishawa very skillfully keeps the whole show together. When you match wits with a good fool like Dean Carvahlo, you have to as the straight man in this tragicomedy. Estragon’s antics cannot be found outrageous without Vladimir trying so desperately to keep it together. Adam Lishawa has proved his chops with this one. If it weren’t enough for Adam Lishawa to say the words of the play and do the bits as written by Samuel Beckett, he plays ukulele and sings. Both rather well, I might add. Vladimir’s Act Two soliloquy is compelling and gripping as he tries reason everything that has happened. Trying with all he can to cling on to some sense of the one thing he has forgotten about: himself.
At the play’s end, Estragon sees a resolve to their waiting: death. What was made light of in Act One is now very seriously considered in Act Two. The two make a suicide pact. Gogo and Didi’s relationship is in tatters. So is the gnarly belt Estragon offers up for Vladimir and him to perform what could be their final act. This may solve all of their problems at last. Gogo and Didi test the strength of the belt. The belt snaps almost immediately. Estragon and Vladimir face the reality of their situation. There is nothing to be done but go on living. Vladimir, still his closest friend, tenderly asks Estragon to pull up his trousers. Estragon doesn't realize that he has dropped trou when he took off his now broken belt. The two men go sit back-to-back once more, like the old days, in silhouette by the light of the moon. Finally, everything fades to black.
This production of Waiting for Godot brings with it the unexpected. This is anything but a sterile museum piece. Audience members are guaranteed to miss something happening in this play. Jessica Arnold’s precision as a director shows in her staging and confidence in her actors. The play moves like a freight train. The whole company has given this play quite a vigorous afterlife. The sands of time run through the hands of Anna Marie Kirkpatrick every performance. She artfully executes brilliantly long live lighting transitions. Joan McDonald as the Stage Manager keeps everything and every one running in the right direction. She makes sure they have their props in hand. All of the props in this show are absolutely genius. You must see this show while you still can. It is quite alive on that stage.
Well, what are you waiting for?
At the play’s end, Estragon sees a resolve to their waiting: death. What was made light of in Act One is now very seriously considered in Act Two. The two make a suicide pact. Gogo and Didi’s relationship is in tatters. So is the gnarly belt Estragon offers up for Vladimir and him to perform what could be their final act. This may solve all of their problems at last. Gogo and Didi test the strength of the belt. The belt snaps almost immediately. Estragon and Vladimir face the reality of their situation. There is nothing to be done but go on living. Vladimir, still his closest friend, tenderly asks Estragon to pull up his trousers. Estragon doesn't realize that he has dropped trou when he took off his now broken belt. The two men go sit back-to-back once more, like the old days, in silhouette by the light of the moon. Finally, everything fades to black.
This production of Waiting for Godot brings with it the unexpected. This is anything but a sterile museum piece. Audience members are guaranteed to miss something happening in this play. Jessica Arnold’s precision as a director shows in her staging and confidence in her actors. The play moves like a freight train. The whole company has given this play quite a vigorous afterlife. The sands of time run through the hands of Anna Marie Kirkpatrick every performance. She artfully executes brilliantly long live lighting transitions. Joan McDonald as the Stage Manager keeps everything and every one running in the right direction. She makes sure they have their props in hand. All of the props in this show are absolutely genius. You must see this show while you still can. It is quite alive on that stage.
Well, what are you waiting for?
Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot: A Tragicomedy
Directed by Jessica Arnold
Acrosstown Repertory Theatre
619 S. Main Street | Gainesville, Florida 32601.
January 20 – February 5, 2017.
Final Performances:
February 3rd and 4th at 8pm,
February 5th at 2pm.
Starring Adam Lishawa, Dean Carvahlo, Esteban Alvarez III, M. Reagle, and C. Hoyt.
Directed by Jessica Arnold
Acrosstown Repertory Theatre
619 S. Main Street | Gainesville, Florida 32601.
January 20 – February 5, 2017.
Final Performances:
February 3rd and 4th at 8pm,
February 5th at 2pm.
Starring Adam Lishawa, Dean Carvahlo, Esteban Alvarez III, M. Reagle, and C. Hoyt.