Waiting for Godot: Samuel Beckett

A seminal work of twentieth-century drama, Waiting for Godot was
Samuel Beckett’s first professionally produced play. It opened in Paris
in 1953 at the tiny Left Bank Theatre de Babylone, and has since become a
cornerstone of twentieth-century theater.

The story line
revolves around two seemingly homeless men waiting for someone—or
something—named Godot. Vladimir and Estragon wait near a tree on a
barren stretch of road, inhabiting a drama spun from their own
consciousness. The result is a comical wordplay of poetry, dreamscapes,
and nonsense, which has been interpreted as a somber summation of
mankind’s inexhaustible search for meaning. Beckett’s language pioneered
an expressionistic minimalism that captured the existentialism of
post-World War II Europe. His play remains one of the most magical and
beautiful allegories of our time.