Waiting for Godot (Citizens Theatre, Glasgow) Review

Waiting for Godot is one of those classics most of us will have heard of but possibly never read the script or actually seen. Written by one of theatre’s greats, Samuel Beckett ‘Ever tried. Ever Failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better’, it was first published in English in 1952 and premiered in 1953, in Paris.

Waiting for Godot we join two friends, Vladimir (Didi) and Estragon (Gogo) as they are…waiting for Godot. All we know is that Godot is promised to bring the two poor old men salvation so, of course, we patiently wait while observing Didi and Gogo’s everyday life stuck in one place with the same conversations.

Dominic Hill takes this classic play and lets it breathe by itself with a carefully selected cast of two real-life best friends, George Costigan (Vladimir) and Matthew Kelly (Estragon). Generally with Godot success heavily depends on the chemistry between Didi and Gogo,and here we have brilliant casting; Costigan and Kelly are a masterful tragicomical duo faithfully bringing their world to life in a brilliant dance of two very different characters.

Michael Hodgson and Gbolahan Obisesan join as poor, wretched Lucky and his master, Pozzo. The pair offer a perfect distraction for Didi and Gogo (and us), who seem unable to leave until Godot shows up. While Hodgson’s portrayal is a physical and mental sacrifice itself, Obisesan is just hysterical and seems to be having the time of his life. 

Still, it’s not the funny absurdity of the brilliant cast that truly strikes most. While credit is due to them for the repeated, sometimes roaring laughter from the audience, the story doesn’t stray from its purpose of existentialism and bleakness of life. Between tiresome statements from Gogo, who seems to be at the end of his wits, there is the haunting set with an even more haunting tree as a static companion from stage designer Jean Chan. Chan makes some interesting choices, leaving part of the equipment visible onstage. It’s readily accepted as part of general scruffiness expected from the play.

Lighting Designer Lizzie Powell gives us something to ponder on, when, with a flick of a light (literally) the attention is on the audience, making one feel quite exposed and sentimental. There’s some lovely physical theatre, worthy of some of Bausch’s sequences, complete with a beautiful hat dance.

There is so much more to say but no more words allowed – it seems fitting that I could write on and on about a play that goes on and on. That’s the scary, absurd beauty of it – that deep inside we are all just playing repeat with life, waiting

Waiting for Godot is at Citizens Theatre, Glasgow until 10th March 2026