Kate Horton for Fictionhouse and Len Blavatnik and Danny Cohen for Access Entertainment, in association with Kate Pakenham Productions, today announce a new production of Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot, directed by James Macdonald and starring Lucian Msamati (Estragon) and Ben Whishaw (Vladimir), with further casting to be announced. The production opens at Theatre Royal Haymarket in September 2024 and will play a strictly limited run.
Lucian Msamati said today, “The wait has been worth it! I look forward to making merry mischief with James Macdonald for the first time and a too long overdue reunion with the creative brilliance and genuine spirit that is Ben Whishaw”.
Ben Whishaw said today, “When I was 18 I was doing an art foundation course in Bedford and went one night with a friend to London to see a play that was part of a season of plays by Samuel Beckett at the Barbican Theatre. The play was Waiting for Godot. The next day I dropped out of my art course, having decided I wanted to study acting instead. I am unbelievably thrilled and excited – and a little terrified too – to be having this chance to perform Beckett’s utterly radical and incredibly beautiful play. It has haunted me since that night 25 years ago. And to get to do it with Lucian Msamati and James Macdonald … well, that’s just a dream”.
James Macdonald said, “I am beyond excited to be working with Fictionhouse on one of my favourite plays of all time – and above all what a pleasure and a privilege to be doing that with Lucian and Ben, amazing collaborators and two of our very greatest theatre artists”.
Kate Horton, Fictionhouse, also commented, “We have long wanted to reunite with James, Ben and Lucian since Ben starred in James’s superlative world premiere production of Cock by Mike Bartlett and with Lucian in multi-award winning Clybourne Park by Bruce Norris, which Dominic Cooke directed. I can’t think of a better way to bring their triple talents together than in Samuel Beckett’s theatrical masterpiece. This production is for experienced theatregoers and those making their first trip alike – and everyone who is still a student of life”.
Danny Cohen, President, Access Entertainment said, “We’re thrilled to be welcoming Ben Whishaw and Lucian Msamati to the Haymarket in a new production of Waiting for Godot directed by James Macdonald. It is of course a brilliant and timeless play, with a stellar creative team bringing it back to the West End”.
Further casting and dates to be announced.
Waiting for Godot will go on sale in February 2024. Individuals can register their interest and sign up for priority booking here: www.waitingforgodotplay.com
Didi and Gogo wait by a tree for a man named Godot. They don’t know who he is, why they are meeting or what time he is coming – only that something incredible could happen when he does…
“Let us do something, while we have the chance… at this place, at this moment of time, all mankind is us, whether we like it or not. Let us make the most of it before it is too late!”
Don’t miss the play that changed the rules. Waiting for Godot opens at the historic Theatre Royal Haymarket for a strictly limited run from September 2024.
