Reviews - Waiting for Godot

2.84k reviews for:

Waiting for Godot

Samuel Beckett

3.69 AVERAGE

emma_pk's review against another edition

4.0

slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

forestgreen101's review against another edition

1.0

When I ventured out to read this play, I (mistakenly) set out with high expectations. Emboldened by my newfound curiosity (and my English teacher persuading me it was a good play), I journeyed out into the world of Godot, where nothing actually makes sense, and the characters repeat the same question of “Why can’t we leave?”, with the absolutely thrilling answer of “We’re waiting for Godot”. This play is so bad that it is completely burned into my senses, and I have a visceral feeling of downright despair every time I hear the infinitive “to wait” in any context. But maybe that was the point. Beckett decided to write a play, of which the main selling point is that “nothing happens twice”. I can guarantee that the only thing worse than reading this torturous play, is actually going to the theatre, and paying money to see it.

eliterate's review against another edition

4.5

challenging funny sad slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

Being able to see plays performed at any point you wish is one of the many benefits of living in the age of YouTube, as now instead of just analyzing words on a page, I can analyze words on a page while analyzing actors on a screen. This is my first review of a play, but for the sake of consistency, I might as well specify that that’s how I plan to review any plays in the future: watching a YouTube performance of the play while reading the script. For what it’s worth, seeing a live performance of Waiting for Godot- even just a recorded one- is a really enjoyable experience, given the fact that it’s not just nonsense you’re reading, but nonsense you’re seeing, acted out perfectly to the author’s plan. You actually feel the insanity of the main characters. Silence plays a huge part here too. To emphasize this purgatory of waiting eternally for Godot, the boredom, the discomfort, pauses are taken to the extreme. Also, I like the part where Lucky just starts ranting about nothing. Anyway, it’s both very funny and there’s also something very miserable about it, too. I guess that’s why its tagline is “a tragicomedy in two acts”.