Humor and Rhythm, Stark Vision

Excerpts from Ladd Wendelin’s Lincoln Journal Star Review, September 27, 2013

“Will night never come?” laments Vladimir. “Time has stopped.” Desperation momentarily yields to hope in Godot, before it’s quickly replaced by the promise of a salvation that never arrives.

So much of the success of Godot depends on the performances, highlights against the minimalist setting composed of a stack of tires and a half-dead tree. Director Bob Hall and his actors -- Patrick Lambrecht (Vladimir) and Tom Crew (Estragon) -- have found humor and rhythm, as well as moments of inspired physical comedy, in Beckett’s stark vision of mankind.

These essential ingredients provide a conduit for the audience, and staged in the round, Godot invites us all to wait. For example, Lambrecht and Crew take brief asides addressing the audience directly, mostly in Act I. This choice makes it seem, however briefly, that perhaps Vladimir and Estragon are not alone in their predicament. The cast, including Richard Nielsen’s Pozzo and Andy Dillehay’s Lucky, also achieve an admirable rhythm and patter that makes for a pleasing aural experience in a play with a tendency to both alienate and illuminate . . .

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The run continues at The Haymarket Theatre, 803 “Q” Street, in Lincoln.

Show dates and times are

this Friday and Saturday, September 27-28 at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, September 29 at 2 p.m.;

followed by Thursday through Saturday, October 3–5 at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, October 6 at 2 p.m.

Tickets are $15 General, $10 Students and Seniors. 

Call 402-473-2897 for reservations.

Photo Credit: John Nollendorfs