After twenty years of living in Paris, Irish-born writer Samuel Beckett was inspired by the existentialist movement taking hold around him after WWII thanks to the works of Jean-Paul Sartre and Albert Camus. So to "free himself" of literary history, in 1948, Beckett wrote his greatest play in French.
Surprisingly, the path to greatness and immortality was paved with hatred and negative reviews. After a triumphant run in Paris in 1953, Beckett translated his work into English to premiere across the Channel. Surviving the censorious scalpel of Lord Chamberlain, who evaluated all works until 1968, the premiere of "Godot" was met with criticism and poor reviews. When Lady Howitt complained about the play, examiner C.W.Heriot was sent to see a performance. He reported back that one should "allow public opinion quietly to disperse this ugly little jet of marsh-gas." Heriot also stated "audience members fled, never to return," while others displayed "signs of boredom." At those same performances, actors reported curtains being brought down by audience members, and hecklers shouting battle cries like our title and worse. Fortunately, "Godot" was championed by critics Kenneth Tynan and Harold Hobson. Just four years later "Godot" would return and be declared a triumph, with other playhouses joining in for years to come.
After its American premiere in Miami, a bewildered audience mostly walked out between acts. However, a daring, Avant-Garde San Francisco troupe was so taken with the work that they were willing to do it anywhere. In 1957, the San Francisco Actors Workshop took their play to San Quentin Prison where 1400 inmates would be required to sit for its premiere. From behind the makeshift curtains, the nervous director addressed the "captive audience." "Simply think about this, just like Jazz." While he was making a reference to the band that just played while everyone was filing in, it worked. Once Vladimir and Estragon began their ballet of bickering, cajoling, arguing, and, most importantly...waiting, the prisoners got it. While it was lambasted in the circles where theatre was regularly attended, "Godot" opened the door for those who may have never experienced Avant-Garde theatre. In addition, it also kicked off the movement of
prisons taking on theatre projects behind bars. Thirty years later, "Godot" was back on the stage at San Quentin, this time performed by its inhabitants.
Seventy years after its premiere, "Waiting For Godot" is still mesmerizing and nerve-wracking. Before "Seinfeld" coined the phrase "a show about nothing," "Godot" was just that.
There is no plot. There is no true beginning ("Nothing to be done,"), end ("Yes, let's go," but they do not move,) or phenomenon of rising action or denouement. The entire premise can be revealed below:
Two men wander on a country road where they wait for someone who may never come.
There is all you need to know. With all that space and lacking the confinement of structure, "Godot" can make you alive with thought. This reading exposed the difference between our "little tramps," Vladimir and Estragon, and the passersby Pozzo and Lucky. As soon as we establish the level of "equality" between Vladimir and Estragon and gain enough exposure to their personalities. the dominant Pozzo and subjugated Lucky arrive for comparison.
In addition, the "nothingness" of the stage and having to sift through the dialogue made it all seem so real. Not that it could happen like this, but there are those of us who believe and those who do not. One simply cannot live without the other. With those relationships and their boundaries challenged in nearly every artistic realm, in "Godot," we as the audience are forced to look at real human behavior (without artifice) portrayed in the most unreal manner.
Just how real is "Godot?" Consider that Beckett was a huge fan of Chaplin and Music Hall entertainment (Vaudeville to us in the States.) In Act I, as companions do, Estragon goes too far. In the beginning, it is Estragon who asks for silence when they begin the first true argument about waiting for Godot. Estragon dozes off, and Vladimir wakes him because "I felt lonely." While they are opposites to each other so far, we see they are bonded when Estragon says, "Who am I to tell my private nightmares to if I can't tell them to you?"
The weight is too much for Vladimir to bear. The weight of what we do not know. (That same weight that transfixed a room full of prisoners.) So Estragon withdraws first with the cold clinical statement, "There are times when I wonder if it wouldn't be better for us to part." Then Estragon passive/aggressively pushes back, asking Vladimir questions, and gives him the chance to answer. Finally, Vladimir retorts "Calm yourself." Estragon can only bat the word "calm" around for amusement and then tempt Vladimir with his chance to tell a ribald joke - only to lead to Vladimir's hasty exit.
After much wordplay and ridiculous behavior (in a good way,) we are finally allowed to the depths of their friendship. Estragon has knowingly gone too far but gives Vladimir multiple chances to either wittily respond or even strike back. When Vladimir cannot do as Estragon wishes, his only choice is to only react and flee. Estragon now knows Vladimir's limits, and Vladimir clearly feels outmatched. In just a moment, Estragon will implore Vladimir to "Use your intelligence, can't you?" After a pause, Vladimir can only resign by saying "I remain in the dark."
We are all being challenged to use our intelligence AND remain in the dark. Like his inspiration, Albert Camus' "The Myth of Sisyphus," we as viewers not only see the duality but the inevitability of the work, the lives, and the entire construct. Even with no "payoff." we now know that the best revenge against all those who screamed in disgust, cried out in frustration and horror, is to - like Vladimir and Estragon - keep going.
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Mik Davis is the record store manager at T-Bones Records & Cafe in Hattiesburg.
NEW MUSIC THIS WEEK
COLTER WALL - Little Songs [LP/CD](RCA)
More Country than anything on Country Radio, Canada's smooth baritone Colter Wall is back for another round of classic Country & Western. With acoustics strumming, a hint of harmonica, and the small push of brushed snare, "Little Songs" is an album of stories. Back in his homeland during the break, Wall went back to cowboy duties. "Little Songs" are all the melodies he could commit to memory while riding the range ("Corraling The Blues.") Like his 2020 critically-acclaimed "Western Swing & Waltzes," Wall wrote most of the album. However, he does a sweeping cover of Hoyt Axton's "Evangelina" and pays tribute to his idol Ian Tyson.
CLAUD - Supermodels [LP/CD](Saddest Factory/Secretly/AMPED)
On Claud's second album, while there is no single like "Soft Spot," the intimacy of the bedroom recordings of old works well in a studio setting. "Crumbs" makes you feel its moment of inspiration and longing. The synth-y fun of "Wet" also features a great combination of danceable Pop and post-teenage angst. Like "Super Monster," there is a lot of promise here, one hopes it will coalesce soon.
LUKAS NELSON & PROMISE OF THE REAL - Sticks & Stones [LP/CD](6 Ace/Thirty Tigers/The Orchard)
After three albums where Nelson's writing really showed signs of progress (especially 2019's "Turn Off The News (Build A Garden),") "Sticks & Stones" reverts to one too many goodtime cornpone Country tropes. The title cut threatens to sound too much like all those other brash Roots Rock/Americana types, except for its well-placed stop (which it does not even use for an ending.) "Alcohallelujah" could have been written by AI, except for Nelson's clever low-voiced inserts ("Father, I must make me a confession.") While The Wallflowers-esque duet "More Than Friends" with Lainey Wilson is as by the numbers as ever as they have ever been over eight albums.
PALEHOUND - Eyes on The Bat [LP/CD](Polyvinyl/Secretly/AMPED)
On her fourth album as Palehound, Boston's El Kempner fulfills the promise with a record that is equal parts Waxahatchee and Dinosaur, Jr. Kempner proves to have a fantastic and almost sardonic yet realistic look at love and how it stains the lives around it. "Independence Day" is part-heartbreaker and part-Dylanesque rocker. Kempner confesses over an insistent bass line crimes of the heart, wishes that it would all go away, and as she boldly puts it - "livin' life like it was my first draft." "The Clutch" is its complementary power ballad. Kempner hides herself both in song and in the mix until after the guitar solo. Then, as she has finally summoned the confidence to say what she really means, she sings breathlessly like a banshee. It is an aural moment of truth where Kempner leaps to the strata of Adrienne Lenker. A jaw-dropping moment that achieves its catharsis when she releases it all into the strains of "you didn't need my help."
BATTY JR. - Do A U E! [LP/CD](Earth Libraries/Redeye)
While one might want to label the Austin-ites as disheveled and wandering through their songs, “Do A U E!” is actually first and foremost - well constructed. “Fool For You” unwinds those familiar Fleetwood Mac chords into a lengthy build that is beautifully accented by the long cello notes. Then, if that was not enough, right when you feel most starry-eyed - they close the envelope and send you to the next song. Even when they show their looseness on “Lazy Bones,” they know to toughen it with drums, smart lyrics (“I’m the first to be last"), and a wordless chorus. However, the evocative yet sweet “Table Is Gone II” is the best showcase of their wealth of ideas. Right in the middle of their interplay over those familiar Folky chords and the headbobbing bass line, chimes ring ushering in Jarmon’s guitar solo that escalates through double stops, bends, and effects tricks to push the band like classic Camper Van Beethoven. In other words, enchanted Rock.
JOHN COLTRANE & ERIC DOLPHY - Evenings at The Village Gate [2LP/2CD](Impulse!/UME)
At the moment when John Coltrane formed his best-known group and signed to Impulse!, they played several shows with equally-renowned Eric Dolphy at the Village Gate. Together, Dolphy helped Coltrane on his "Africa/Brass" album, and the sidelong version is the only time it was ever recorded outside the studio. In addition, Dolphy takes a lengthy bass clarinet solo on the standard "When Lights Are Low," and duels with Trane on an early version of "Impressions." Never-before-heard, "Village Gate" was derived from a recording recently discovered at the New York Public Library.
