Waiting for Godot: The play that changed the rules of theatre

Waiting for Godot is a play by the Irish writer Samuel Beckett that revolutionised 20th century theatre when it was first performed more than 60 years ago. Often referred to as a play in which nothing happens, it is about two characters who spend their time waiting for a mysterious person called Godot who never appears. Today it is one of the world's most important and best- known plays and has become a comment on our political and social climate, as its themes of hope and despair have led to it being re-interpreted in a number of conflict situations around the world, from South Africa to Sarajevo. Joining Rajan Datar is the South African theatre director Benjy Francis who was the first to stage Waiting for Godot with an all-black cast in Apartheid South Africa in 1976, the Irish theatre director Garry Hynes whose current production of Waiting for Godot is at the Edinburgh International Festival, and Professor of theatre at Reading University, Anna McMullan, who is also co-Director of the Beckett International Foundation. Photo:The Druid Theatre Company's production of Waiting for Godot (Matthew Thompson).