User:PatrickDQuinn1/Samuel Beckett

=Fame: novels and the theatre= You can read the original writing here: here

Concerning Waiting For Godot
Beckett is most famous for his play En attendant Godot (1953) (Waiting for Godot). Like most of his works after 1947, the play was first written in French with the title En attendant Godot. Beckett worked on the play between October 1948 and January 1949. His partner, Suzanne Dechevaux-Dumesnil, was integral to its success. Dechevaux-Dumesnil became his agent and sent the manuscript to multiple producers until they met Roger Blin, the soon-to-be director of the play

Blin's knowledge of French theatre and vision alongside Beckett knowing what he wanted the play to represent contributed greatly to its success. In a much-quoted article, the critic Vivian Mercier wrote that Beckett "has achieved a theoretical impossibility—a play in which nothing happens, that yet keeps audiences glued to their seats. What's more, since the second act is a subtly different reprise of the first, he has written a play in which nothing happens, twice." The play was published in 1952 and it premièred in 1953 in Paris; an English translation was performed two years later. The play was a critical, popular, and controversial success in Paris. It opened in London in 1955 to mainly negative reviews, but the tide turned with positive reactions from Harold Hobson in The Sunday Times and, later, Kenneth Tynan. After the showing in Miami, the play became extremely popular, with highly successful performances in the US and Germany. The play is a favourite: It is not only performed frequently but it has inspired playwrights globally who have tried to emulate the play. This is the sole play that Beckett never sold, donated, or gave away the manuscript. He refused to allow the play be translated into film but did allow it to be played on television.

American reception
Planning for an American tour for Waiting for Godot started in 1955. The first American tour was directed by Alan Schneider and produced by Michael Myerberg. Bert Lahr and Tom Ewell acted in the production. The first part of the tour was a disaster. Initially, the play was set to be shown in Washington and Philadelphia. However, low advanced sales forced the play to be performed in Miami for two weeks, where the audience was made up of vacationers. It was first described as “the laugh sensation of two continents” in the advanced publication done by Myerberg in the local newspapers. However, when it was shown to the audience, theatregoers would leave after the first act, describing it as a play where “nothing happens”, and taxi drivers would wait in front of the theatre to take them home. The Miami showing caused the cancellation of the showings in New York. By April 1956, new showings were planned. That month, Schneider and most of the cast were replaced for the showings there. Herbert Berghof took over as director and E.G. Marshall replaced Tom Ewell as Vladimir. The New York showing of the play prompted discussions of the play being an allegory. One reviewer, Henry Hewes of the Saturday Review, associated Godot as God, Pozzo as a capitalist-aristocrat, and Lucky as labour-proletarian. This prompted Beckett to issue a rare statement, stating that reaction to the play was based on the misconception of the play. To Beckett, the play tries to not be able to be defined. The New York showing of the play was well-received with critics. Brooks Atkinson of the New York Times praised Lahr for his performance as Estragon.

After the New York showing, the play was taken over by The Actors Workshop of San Francisco in 1957. Herbert Blau directed the play. The attitude of this troupe was to move it away from a commercial attitude to an avant-garde attitude. As well, the play did not have competition between the actors playing Vladimir and Estragon for being the star of the show. The most successful showing of the play was in November 1957, where it was played at the San Quentin prison where the played had a profound impact on the inmates and spurred them to start a drama group in the prison. They would go on to produce 7 of Beckett’s works. In 1958, the play, produced by the San Francisco Actors Workshop, would be chosen to go to Brussels for the 1958's World's Fair.