Waiting for Godot

As a small sign that things may slowly be returning to ‘normal’, the first BSR drama production for over a year took place on Thursday. It was to small, masked, socially-distanced audiences, with just two performers: Emily McCarthy as Vladimir and Isabel Warnock as Estragon in an excerpt from Beckett’s Waiting for Godot. They put it on three times in the one evening

In many ways Godot is as pertinent as ever: depressingly, two people are stuck in one place, both intimate with and exasperated by the other, waiting for a change of circumstances that seems doomed never to arrive. But it is also full of humour, which was beautifully captured by the actors. Beckett is hard to perform, and certainly this is so for teenagers, but both Emily and Isabel, working off each other skilfully, captured the heart of Beckett’s vision. As a result both were awarded the two Drama Prizes 2021.

It was good to be back in the BSR for drama, and certainly for this intimate, absorbing experience.

The director was the Sub-Warden, the technical desk was run by Head of Drama Mr Swift, and the featured photograph is by the Chaplain.