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Stage Review: Duquesne Masquers plumb grim absurdities of tedious 'Godot'
Saturday, April 01, 2000 By A. Levine
Theater of the Absurd is a celebration of minimalism. It can task an audience's patience and fail our traditional expectation of plot and character, our sense of the natural sequence of beginnings and endings. If theater reflects us, then those who enjoy this strangeness may indeed be strange, and Theater of the Absurd may be for the absurd, too.
Duquesne University's Red Masquers dive head first and wholeheartedly into the epitome of absurdity -- Samuel Beckett's "Waiting for Godot." The good news is that the Duquesne student troupe succeeds at lightening and enlivening this dirge on dire straits and woeful life. The bad news -- and it's no one's fault but Beckett's -- is that it's done in two very long acts.
For a play that stresses the trauma of time, time has always been its burden, too. You may laugh, cry, learn life's meaning or that life has none, but above all you feel the posterior numbness that only comes from sitting for extended periods and, like the characters themselves, moving not an inch in any progressive direction.
This is not a bad play; it's a classic that has always been cool to do and to appreciate. I recall a version starring Tom Ewell in Greenwich Village 30 years ago that left me standing in a line that circled around the square outside. We were all waiting for "Godot." Back then, a popular T-shirt slogan read, "Life is what you do while you're waiting." If "Godot" has a single sense, that may be it.
But, like good medicine, this play doesn't go down easily. It's a fact that, once we've waited as long as the characters have, we may simply want to move on.
"Godot's" characters have no lives to speak of or to think of or to recall. They are mired in the middle of a space without place, caught in a now that never moves to the next minute. They are rootless and homeless, without a history to teach them or a future to pursue.
Estragon and Vladimir are the yin and yang of Everyman -- two sides to the same unfortunate coin whose value is incalculable because there's no one else to value it. Pozzo and Lucky are the extremes of everyone else -- one master and one slave who, without each other, would be without purpose. The chance (is it chance?) meeting of these pairs is at once a singular happening and a repetitive ritual. They interact in forceful ways, but they can't change each other because nothing can change.
The choice of this play may befuddle, but Masquers' execution surprises nonetheless. The five-member cast is alive with energy, navigating the script with care and sincerity. They believe in their purpose, and their presentation proves it. These are tough roles requiring actors to speak disconnected phrases and react to indefinable actions. The team is entirely up to the task.
Meghan Spyker is an eager Estragon, her bright eyes charming, her innocence alarming. Moira Ryan's Vladimir is amazingly versatile, casual then concerned, lost and then momentarily found. The interplay between them at times bends to a stream of subconsciousness that demands two actors in tune. Spyker and Ryan are that.
Melissa Teitel's Pozzo is gruff and demanding, barking more than the man she treats as an animal. Her determined stare says it all. Peter Root plays Lucky as perfectly expressionless, a deadpan facade for a near-death dog.
Katrina Welt does well as an innocent messenger afraid of her own message.
Director John E. Lane Jr. takes the literal trail as if in homage to Beckett. His minimal design, supported by Laura Roberts' smart costumes, frames a bareness and emptiness that's right in line. Lane's control is exemplary, and his actors benefit greatly.
"Godot" remains too long, but much of this production's good things are worth waiting for after all.
A. Levine is a free-lance drama critic.
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Where: Peter Mills Theatre, Rockwell Hall, Duquesne University, Uptown.