9 A PRODUCTION BOCK FOR WAITING FOR GO^OT 6 If RUTH AM BAKER B. A., Fort Hays Kansas State College, 19 52 A MASTER'S THESIS submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree MASTER OF ARTS Deoartmont of Speech KA1T3AS STATE UNIVERSITY Manhattan, Kansas 1964 Approved by: iiajor Professor Xiiif D<5CCI/M£vi"' TABLE OF CONTENTS THEMATIC MATERIAL 9 THE ACTORS 21 SETTING 40 LIGHTING 57 SCRIPT . 60 REHEARSAL DATA 210 PERFORMANCE DATA 212 LIST OF WORKS CONSULTED 213 EXPLANATION FOR PLATE I Program for Waiting for Godot THE DEPARTMENT OF SPEECH Presents: WAITING FOR GODOT Thesis Production presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts PURPLE MASQUE EXPERIMENTAL THEATRE MAY 15 and 16, 1961i-8:00 p.m. , : , — WAITING FOR GCXOT GAar By Samuel Beckett Estragon. ...... .John Dillon Director Ruth Ann Baker* Vladimir .„..„,. .John Hawkins Assistant Direct or . .Judy Lee Taylor* Lucky. .......... Boyd Masten Technical Assistant . .Clayton Hawes* Pozzo. „„„..„..,. Larry Hovey Light Design Clayton Hawes* Boy...., „,..,...Doug Powell House Manager Fred Williams* Business Manager David Sadkin* STUDENT PRODUCTION STAFF Scenery: Clayton Hawes*, Ken Seibel, Judy Lee Taylor* Lights: Harvey Goldberg, Arthur Garvin Make-up: Glenda Apt, Pam Robinson, Michele Clark, Margaret Noller Costumes: Kitty Barker* Chorogrt.phys Margaret Middleton Publicity: Tish Dace*, Mary Adams, Kitty Barker*, Stew McDermit, Jamie Aiken, Patsy"TTees, Clayton Hawes*, Judy Lee Taylor*. Properties: Pam Robinson, Glenda Apt 1^ 6 prayers™" "• • . ZSZ^^^gQf^gp^Tgi-'-'K — , STATEMENT FROM THE DIRECTOR Don't let rumors and psuedo-intellectual statements about this play ; scare you. out of the fun of seeing it. Don ! t struggle to "understand the-" basic theme" while you are watching it. The play is different-.-'- It is unique. It dbes not fit .any 'preconceived notions of how-a-pTay should work. It cannot be placed in any "mold" but it ""Is an enjoyable piece of drama. I consider it a highly-significant work, whether you personally agree with this. last statement or not the play is to be seen. It can be appreciated on. : any level that you wish '"',]., >' to accept it. Listen gently. ,„ THEATRE STAFF FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF SPEECH Dennis Denning . , „ , , b .Direct or Wallace Dace »o,Associate Director WATTING FOR GODOT is produced by Jack Rast.,..,,Technical Direct an... special arrangement with the Betty Cleary . , . c SJ^*-«-...-.-Ocrg6umer Dramatists Play : Service. ' Patsy Rees,,... , ., Theatre Secretary Norma Bunton. u Jlead, Dept .. of Speech MEDEA ^Special Presentation for Alumni.,.May 30, 8:30 p.m. All-Faith Chapel : PLAYERS ' NATIONAL COLLEGIATE PLAYERS KANSAS STATE OFFICERS: •' OFFICERS David' Sadkin....President Clayton Hawes.. ..President Judy Lee Taylor.,. 1st Vice-President Betty Cary....Vice-President Janet Coleman 2nd Vice-President Boyd Masten Hist orian Bobi Sadkin... Secretary-Treasurer Fred Williams. .. .Secretary ACKNOWLEDGIIEKTS Gary Johnson Leanna Lenhart Boyd Masten Susan Murray Mrs. J. A. Hollis Bill Robinson Ronald Schindler- ' Gienda Apt Mrs. Betty Cleary Marilyn Kimbr ought PLATE II Play Is Mystifying, But Fun You will probably be mysti- ness and hopelessness of man- cinating manner by Boyd Mas- fied by it, and you may not kind endlessly waiting, never tin. Who they are, where they really "understand" it at all, understanding, permanently en- are from, and wither they are but if you go see it (and you trapped in the meaninglessness going, nobody knows, but, as should) you will probably thor- of day to day existence. He sees Vladimir observes, they help oughly enjoy it. Samuel Beck- it, to be sure as basically ab* enliven the day and pass the ett's "Waiting for. Godot" on surd, but he also sees it piti- deadening weight of time. By the display tonight and tomorrow in ful, hilarious frightening, dis- time, they have made their last East, Stadium's Purple Masque gusting, ironic, and ridiculous, exit, and the two tramps reas- Theatre is another of the se- All of these elements are sert that they can no longer ries of fine productions from' clearly articulated in this pro- wait, but must go, yet remain the Kansas State Department of duction, most ably directed by forever rooted in the muck of ' Speech and -the K-State Players Ruth Ann Baker. their drab world, the audience offered this college year. It is, The two tramps Estragon, fl as an uncanny feeling that as well, the most difficult to ex- L^*-^ _ something profound has been bv JonnJohn Dillon,Dmon anda d . plain. Generally speaking,, the sajd _ ^ ^^ f ^TV*.Vladimir "Jby John Hawkins, w viewer -will get out of it. exact- remains undefined, Wlth sklU through ly what he wants to - no more, move their life as perpetual- Baker, no ies5t nightmare they Miss who has present- - - . ]y awaj(; the never- arriving Go- ed this play to the Department Certainly Beckett, the f I r s t dot. Into their midst come Poz- of Speech as her master's thes- widely recognized playwright of zo, the slave-driver, interpreted is, is to be heartily congratu- what has been dubbed- the "dra- by Larry Hovey, and his tortur- lated, and her entire cast is to ma of the absurd" has some- ed servant, Lucky, portrayed in be complimented for a hard job thing to say about.the helpless- a .grotesque and strangely fas- extremely well done. -JT.Y.M. EXPLANATION OF PLATE III Collegian Review by Dr. Charles Fennel May 15, 1964 PLATE III Beview Nothing Is Certain, but Godot's Great By CMAUI.ES pennel round of horrible and hilarious non-sequiturs. Assistant Professor of English -• THE CAST is uniformly excellent. John Dillon Hawkins, as and Didi, play well About Waiting lor Godot it is only possible to re- and John Gogo difficult peat Gogo's puzzled comment: "Nothing is certain" together. Both manage the problem of of repetition a climax of —nothing, that is, except that Ruth Ann Baker building from the blocks and her cast have produced a fine evening of thea- futility and frustration that is at the same time tre at the Purple Masque (tonight and Saturday inconsequential and pitiable. But they are not Didi. the al 8:00 p.m.). Godot itself is a strange, frighten- mere Siamese twins. Hawkins makes of ing, funny set of non-variations on the theme of type of the analytical modern man, confident at the futility of the human condition. Two tramps, least occasionally that his surrealistic logic will Gogo and Didi, wait endlessly and confusedly for finally explain things. Dillon's Gogo, on the other' hand, wants to be left alone to sleep and to have Godot—or do they? or is it Godot? or are we all dreaming? Neither the characters nor the audi- someone to whom he can tell his nightmares. ence can tell. The audience can, however, recog- In some ways, Larry Hovey's Pozzo is. the tri- nize the ambiguous agony of Pozzo and Lucky umph of the evening. Tied to Lucky by the rope (who is master and who is servant?) and the pain- he holds, he alternates pompous brutality, tortured ful ennui of the tramps as mirror images of their awareness and inexpressible indifference to the own experience. plight of his fellows and himself. Doug Powell THE PLAY opens on a stage, bare except for a gives the proper air of tainted innocence to his scrubby tree of some kind—"A willow," Didi portrayal of the boy who continually brings the guesses—and Gogo, painfully and ineffectively at- invariable message from Godot—a message that tempting to remove his boots. He is soon joined is an all too familiar mixture of hope and despair: by Didi, his comrade in the daily and endless wait "Mr. Godot told me to tell you he won't come this for the mysterious Godot. In response to Gogo's evening but surely to-morrow." futile conclusion to his struggle with his boot, THE RESPONSIBILITIES of the technical crew- "Nothing is to be done," Didi muses: "I'm begin- are comparatively small; some clever make-up for ning to come round to that opinion. All my life Lucky and a few lighting changes account for most I've tried to put it from me, saying Didi, be reason- of their visible duties. The play goes forward at a able, you haven't yet tried everything. And I re- brisk pace that indicates some sure-handed direc- sumed the struggle." And thus we are off on a tion on the part of Miss Baker. EXPLANATION OF PLATE IV Collegian-Student Reaction by Edward Hoffmans May 21, 1964 PLATE IV Reflections on K-State Theater Standard Stage Realism Surpassed was, EDWARD HOFFMAN'S drama to a generally conservative success; this play, like Medea, excellence English Grarluato theater audience. effective primarily by the its spectacle. The K-State theater repertory for ALTHOUGH the . acting in Medea of this semester featured three kinds of was undoubtedly good, it was not the IN WAITING FOR GODOT, good theatrical stylizatioM that were ex- chief vehicle for the play's theatrical acting had more to do with the play's treme departures from conventional viability, The theatrical tool that theatrical efficiency than in Medea stage realism. In view of the total made this play work was its blocking or The Consul. But the quality of unfamiliarity of the majority of K- and choreography, and the most im- Godot's acting was reinforced con- State's potential theater audience pressive result of this tool's compet- siderably by the physical intimacy be- with Medea, The Consul, and Waiting ent manipulation was the harmonious tween actor and audience in the Pur- for Godot, these productions repre- and consistent integration of the ple Masque, and by blocking that was sented radical theatrical experiments.