To be or not to be? That’s pretty much the question in Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot. Only the answer isn’t contingent on what ’tis
nobler in the mind. Beckett suggests that we put up with the awfulness of
being mainly because we’ve decided, on no proof whatsoever, that a
mysterious, white-bearded absence called Godot is on his way, and when he
finally shows up we’re going to get a big meal and a cozy spot in his
attic, furnished with beds of soft straw.
All in all, the starkest, most darkly funny distillation of Western—not to
say human—religious, economic, and social constructs ever poured into two
acts. Indeed, watching the marvelous production by Ireland’s Druid Theatre
Company, directed by Garry Hynes and running now at Chicago Shakespeare
Theater, you might find yourself thinking how cluttered and limited most
conventional plays can seem by comparison, as they attempt to explore this
or that current issue, depict a trauma from this or that corner of
contemporary life. Waiting for Godot goes to the absurd heart of
life on earth.
Through 6/3: Wed 7:45 PM, Thu 1 and 7:45 PM, Fri 7:45 PM, Sat 2:30 and 7:45 PM, Sun 2:30 PM, Chicago Shakespeare Theater, 800 E. Grand, 312-595-5600, chicagoshakes.com, $68-$88.
