By Chung Ah-young
Staff Reporter
To celebrate the 40th anniversary of the premiere here of the renowned play ``Waiting for Godot,’’ local theater troupe Sanwoollim will present a revival through Nov. 1.
The play was first performed in 1953 in France and made its way to Korea in 1969 under the directorship of Lim Young-woong, 73, when his troupe was first formed.
The drama revolves around just five characters ― Vladimir and Estragon who are waiting for Godot; Pozzo and Lucky who interrupt their reverie; and a boy who each evening tells them that Godot will come tomorrow.
The play consists of meaningless dialogue between the characters, but at the same time insinuates the strong obsession of modern people who are apparently waiting for something that will never happen.
Written by Irish author Samuel Beckett, the drama is regarded as a classic example of the ``theater of the absurd,’’ and is one of the time-honored representative pieces in the repertoire of Lim’s Sanwoollim.
The revival will be staged at the Uijeongbu Arts Center on Sept. 4 and 5 and at Sanwoollim Theater in Seoul from Sept. 8 to Nov. 1.
Along with the performance, an academic seminar will be held at the arts center on Sept. 4, at which Lim will talk about his theatrical life beginning with the first production of the play. The director and other dramatists will discuss the play’s influence on local theater and future directions of drama in Korea.
The Korean version of ``Waiting for Godot’’ has been performed more than 1,100 times and garnered 13 theatrical awards.
Sanwoollim participated in France’s Avignon Festival in 1989 and was invited to the Dublin Theater Festival in Ireland, the author’s home, in 1990. The troupe has toured Poland, Japan and other countries, and in 2008 was invited to the Dublin Beckett Center, where it received rave reviews from critics.
``Waiting for Godot’’ has been acclaimed as an innovative work that transformed the trend of modern theater since its premiere in 1953, breaking the traditional format and rules of performing. Beckett won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1969 in part due to the play according to critics.
The drama has been performed in more than 100 countries and has been dealt with as an academic thesis subject due to its abstruse subject and content.