by Max Zänker
LV Life Editor
With it’s newest production, the University of La Verne Theater Department shows that Samuel Beckett’s classical play “Waiting for Godot” does not have to be boring, depressing or nerve-wracking.
The ULV cast of “Waiting for Godot” lets no single viewers sink bored or depressed into their seats, but does what Beckett productions are not famous for: it makes the audience laugh.
Sophomore theater majors Christopher Smith and Anthony Guerrero entertain the audience as the main characters, Vladimir and Estragon.
The play’s plot is not very important, as really, nothing actually happens.
Vladimir and Estragon are sitting in the desert day by day, waiting for Godot without even knowing who he is and what they want from him.
“Vladimir is the driver of the two,” Smith said. “He keeps insisting on coming back and giving their lives a meaning.”
Estragon on the other hand is always on the edge of giving up on the metaphorical Godot.
“He’s a total pessimist,” Guerrero said. “Vladimir forces me to stay, and I realize, I couldn’t exist without him.”
The plot of the play is not very tense at all. As Estragon says, “Nothing happens, nobody comes, nobody goes, it’s awful.”
But the ULV production is not awful at all. Delivering punchy line after line, Smith and Guerrero put a high speed into the play, even when the actual action is slow, if even present.
The funny, often even slapstick-like way, in that Vladimir and Estragon entertain each other, also keeps the viewer entertained and laughing almost to the point of tears throughout the two-act, nearly two-hour production.
But with all the laughter, Georgij Paro, the director, does not want to forget the play’s tragic background.
“I chose to approach the play from the human side, strongly believing that laughter is maybe the wisest tool we have in life,” he said.
“The people, who will laugh at our great actors, will see that their laughter has a tragic undertone.”
Main actors Smith and Guerrero have been working together since their freshman year.
“I always knew, Chris was a great actor,” Guerrero said. “Working with him motivates you and takes you along as you want to reach his level.”
Smith, whom Guerrero calls “like a distant cousin,” also enjoyed the rehearsal atmosphere.
“The great thing is that there was a great understanding and desire to make this great,” he said. “Waiting for Godot has been done boring so many times.”
Another factor that made the play anything but boring were the performances of senior Nasir Najieb and Kameron Taylor.
Najieb plays an African American slave-owner with Taylor as his slave.
“Georgij came up with the idea that a black slave owner and the vice-versa concept of putting of the oppressed being the oppressor would be good for the role,” Najieb said.
And it turns out that Paro was 100 percent right with this decision.
Najieb gives his character Pozzo, whom he calls a “total capitalist,” a funny-tragic face and fills him with life.
Taylor performs as Pozzo’s slave, Lucky, and creates a charismatic character without many lines. With only one speech in the script, “Waiting for Godot” gave him a big challenge of expressing the emotions and the struggle, that Lucky goes through.
But showing off all of his talent, Taylor stepped up to the challenge and succeeded in making the slave a memorable character.
The final cast member is the son of ULV faculty member Gary Colby, Aaron, who plays a boy that brings messages from Godot day by day. The seventh-grader at Ramona Middle School already has a lot of stage experience, including performances in productions like “Scrooge, the Musical,”“Cheaper by the Dozen” and “Annie Get Your Gun.”
“Aaron takes acting very serious,” Paro said. “He brings this very important innocence and meaning to the play. He is a equal member of the cast.”
Beckett’s “Waiting for Godot” marked the theater and philosophy of the twentieth century.
Paro still sees a lot of relevance in the play in today’s society.
“It shows the world after the catastrophe, which was in the ‘50s the hydrogen bomb,” he said. “Even though this didn’t happen, we are still witnessing the destruction of our planet and feel endangered in many ways.”
With a charismatic cast and a beautiful stage design and lightning, it is hard for the audience not to find this deeper meaning in “Waiting for Godot”.
And even if the viewer does not, as Vladimir would say, “At least that passed the time.”
“Waiting for Godot” premiered Thursday and continues running tonight, May 1, 6, 7 and 8, in the Dailey Theatre.
