Waiting For Godot’s Learning Guide

Waiting for Godot is a remarkable play which has become part of the canon. It is famously difficult to interpret which is why it is such a challenging but exciting text to direct and perform.

Throughout this pack, you’ll find various articles, images and resources to help you understand the play and this 2024 production at Theatre Royal Haymarket in London. Waiting for Godot has been performed at times of political crisis, in prisons, schools, Victorian theatres and black box studios. It has been performed in its original French, in English translation, and performed in various other
languages around the world. The fact that Waiting for Godot has been performed in such diverse performance spaces across the globe is testament to its relevance, its power and its universal appeal.

Every member of the audience will come away from seeing Waiting for Godot with different ideas about its meaning. None of those ideas will be wrong. Like Samuel Beckett, we are reluctant to insist on one specific interpretation. Instead, we hope that this Learning Guide will provide you with opportunities to keep asking questions about the play, and inspire you to look further into Samuel Beckett’s remarkable body of work, as well as the incredible life that he led

We regularly check that the information and links are the latest and most up-to-date. However, please contact us directly if you need any further information or have a particular question.