It8217;s Absurd! Beckett8217;s bewitching play

If I knew who Godot was, I would have said so,'' Samuel Beckett, playwright and philosopher, is known to have said. And he, thereby, cr...

8220;If I knew who Godot was, I would have said so,8221; Samuel Beckett, playwright and philosopher, is known to have said. And he, thereby, created an enduring mystery in his play Waiting for Godot 8211; A play about life and relationships, which contains undefinable and indescribable elements. Brought to Pune by Indian Magic Eye and performed by Motley at Tilak Smarak Mandir on Saturday evening. The play8217;s protagonists, Didi and Gogo Naseeruddin Shah and Benjamin Gilani, are two aged tramps in tattered clothes, ostensibly from nowhere, waiting at a deserted spot for Godot. Vacillating between hope and despair they wait, but find it difficult to pass the time in the cold, with only a barren tree and discarded sacks for company.

The relationship between the tramps is obviously that of two people stuck in the same boat 8211; trapped in a similar predicament, trapped in space and time. 8220;Nothing to be done!,8221; and 8220;What do we do now,8221; are repeated refrains in the play, obliquely suggesting the nothingness of Being.

After a half-hearted attempt to hang themselves from the inadequate bough of the tree, they are almost desperate to reaffirm their existence, in co-relation with other human beings. Their chance arrives when a prosperous man Pozzo Akash Khurana pulling his lackey, Lucky Sagar Arya by a rope enters the scene, providing a rather bizarre diversion.

Glimpses of Beckett8217;s philosophy are clearly discernible during the interlude between Didi-Gogo and Pozzo-Lucky, where Beckett apparently makes a point about two opposing forces being irretrievably tied to one another 8211; the rope being a sort of symbol. Pozzo, upon being asked why Lucky continues to stand immobile with two heavy bags of sand round his neck, explains airily that it is a subtle form of emotional blackmail, to bind him down with his servility, even dancing and thinking by the tug of the rope, Pozzo8217;s remote control.

When his lackey cries, Pozzo dismisses it as 8220;tears are a constant, when one human being stops crying, another begins to cry,8221; carrying forward a vicious cycle of tears. One feels his words are reiterated in the second act of the play, where Pozzo becomes blind and Lucky loses his power of speech. The first act ends with a young shepherd Vivaan Asad Shah telling the two tramps that Godot will 8220;come tomorrow.8221;

The second act carries more action than the first, and more hope too. The tree has sprouted a few leaves. And the tramps make decided efforts to break the deadlock of waiting 8220;There8217;s nothing to be done8221; by walking vigourously, exercising, fighting, abusing. The sequence of hats a take-off on circus and vaudeville acts is engaging. And Beckett probably gets back at his critics in the let8217;s-abuse-each-other sequence 8212; where after moron, sewer, vermin and cretin 8212; critic is the sharpest, resounding rejoinder.The act ends with the young shepherd announcing once again that Godot will not be making an appearance, but not without allowing the audience to miss the point that the appointment by the Waiting has been kept. 8220;We have to keep our appointment,8221; says Didi wretchedly, almost as if conditioned to wait.

Shah and Gilani were at their practiced and energetic best, delivering the crackling dialogues with ease. Competently supported by Khurana and Arya who incidently played the young boy when Motley was established 20 years ago. Ratna Shah8217;s contribution was the effective lighting. Gilani8217;s flawless direction, Shah8217;s wonderful, inhibited acting sustained the play, making it an extremely entertaining one.