Waiting for Godot- some damn good theatre

Image stolen from here

Today I saw the most incredible stage production I have ever seen. At 2:30 the curtain went up on Waiting for Godot starring Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, and Simon Callow. What are the chances that three such famous and talented Shakespearean actors would appear on stage together? It was absolutely amazing.

I've never seen a Beckett play performed before, and this one was every bit as mysterious and cyclical as I thought it would be. For three actors with such incredibly large stage presence, they all played it very subtle and deep. I knew McKellen was an amazing actor, but I had no idea how physical an actor he was. Every step, every gesture was thought out, but evoked a character so set in his ways, so perfectly set in who he was.... even his most cartoony of moments seemed natural.

The two lead actors balanced each other beautifully- McKellan the cynic opposite Stewart the straight man. The mark of a good actor is not noticing when they are acting, and with Stewart and McKellen I found myself so enveloped in their characters and the strange hell/world they occupied that I forgot to notice that there were two very famous people who have played iconic roles, right in front of me. They actually disassociated themselves from Gandalf and Picard and became Vladamir and Estragon. They weren't even Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart anymore, they were just Vladamir and Estragon. Fucking. Amazing.

Leaving the theatre, I re-entered the world unsure of what is real.

If you have any chance in hell of scalping tickets to this show, go see it. It's worth every penny.