Ian McKellen Discusses "Waiting for Godot"

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StagingShakespeare

10 жыл бұрын

February 2014. Cort Theatre. New York, NY.
Thanks to CR for the video.

Пікірлер: 49

@bogohotdogz Ай бұрын

i hung out with this guy when performing in Stratford. He was constantly stoned.

@lamegoldfish6736 4 жыл бұрын

I always enjoy listening to what Ian McKellen has to say, about drama, acting, or any subject really.

@peterfrengel3964 3 жыл бұрын

Please, please, please... if a recording of the performance with Sir Ian and Sir Patrick Stewart exists, release it!

@Deliquescentinsight 6 жыл бұрын

So true, we wait for everything, even the addict has to wait for their supplier, the patient for the dentist, the student for the lecturer, the mother for her child, the person for their life to unfold and finally cease.

@huckthatdish 5 жыл бұрын

Michael Gorman waiting for a meaning or purpose that never comes.

@lexprimo 4 жыл бұрын

He's so unpretentious, which I think Beckett would have loved.

@Whybother316 9 жыл бұрын

It's so nice to see the play through the eyes of Ian...i didnt understand the play at first...

@JenNOleinik 8 жыл бұрын

Thank you for this video, he's so wonderful.

@chrisp8328 2 жыл бұрын

This is a wonderful alternative view at the play.

@jamesbyersmusic 2 жыл бұрын

I simply adore Ian Mckellen, and Patrick Stewart, but McKellen has always been at the top of my favourite actors and he seems such a wonderful man with it!

@agranero6 3 жыл бұрын

Interesting that he mentions Laurel and Hardy. The moment on the play both exchange their hats I couldn't help remembering Laurel and Hardy doing that all the time.

@dthomas3871 3 жыл бұрын

beautiful xxx

@JeffPetro 8 жыл бұрын

McKellen and Stewart as Vladimir and Estragon would be amazing

@tomimpala 6 жыл бұрын

Someone obviously agreed!

@kelman727 6 жыл бұрын

Jeffrey Petromilli They were.

@thekaxmax 2 жыл бұрын

They were

@rosejacob3146 Жыл бұрын

How dare those RUDE people talk make noise while SUCH a great person as Ian M is speaking❗

@johnk.lindgren5940 9 жыл бұрын

Kiitos

@Nonielaa 8 жыл бұрын

Fascinating! And a great help for my English coursework, haha!

@testicularoxide5055 2 жыл бұрын

Running! She was running. Running as fast as she could. Running faster than she had ever thought possible. The wolf pack was howling. Tearing through the brush, branches and trees that she had to go around. She was running. Branches scratching her face and exposed skin. Blood mixing with her tears. Wolves were getting closer and closer. She could hear the brush being shredded by the packs mass of bodies, claws snapping off branches as they gained speed coming ever closer. All she could do was run. Her feet growing sluggish. Heart pounding in her head. The snow blowing harder and faster covering the ground all in that white, frigid slickness causing her to lose her footing more and more. The drumming of the wolf packs paws hitting the ground was louder and louder in her ears. They were nearly on top of her. She sprinted even faster now. Pushing through the thick forest. Jumping logs, vaulting thickets. She turned to look behind her. The wolf pack was directly on her heels. Teeth and claws just feet from being able to grab her. She pushed harder. Suddenly the ground disappeared from beneath her feet. She was like a puppet with her strings suddenly cut. She tumbled and fell. Down, down into the vast darkness she slid. Struck by rocks and debris all the way down. A black pool of unconsciousness opened up in front of her and swallowed her whole. Then her whole world went black. She woke to find herself at the base of a tall angled cliff face. Her body bruised, bloody but unbroken. A mortally wounded wolf just yards from her. Its body twisted and mangled from its fall. She was somehow able to rise. She quickly stood to take in her new surroundings. The wolves still heard in the far distance atop the peak she had just fallen down. All around her as far as her eyes could see was nothing but mountains, forest and trees. Everywhere, trees. She figured her directions by pinpointing the suns location, angle and plotted her course north towards the old cabin she had seen as her aunts plane came crashing down in the great mountain forest. The wolves howled their frustration and were once again on her trail. She heard their chilling warning cries and she was again running. Running as fast as she could for the imagined safety of that cabin. Her direction set and nerves held in check by disassociating herself from the situation like her Aunt had taught her to. Focusing only on putting one foot in front of the other as fast as she could manage. The snow began to fall faster as the wind somehow managed to increase in strength simultaneously. The one relief from this was that she could no longer hear the distant yapping, mewling and howls of the angered, frustrated wolves. Furious over their delayed meal of her cold, tired body. The sun was just a faded memory in the far, nearly forgotten recesses of her mind. And once the sun had abandoned her the temperature quickly began to plummet. The bone freezing cold covered her as if layer upon layer of freezing snow, ice and sleet were being heaped on her thin, shivering shoulders. She laughed out loud as she realized thats exactly what was happening to her. She suddenly cursed her inattention, shook herself free of the wet, sticky snow that covered her. She redoubled her efforts. Slipping across slick, icy rocks, logs and forest detritus that clawed at her toes, ankle and heels trying its best to bring her facedown in the snow as it had several times already. She heard a familiar noise in the distance and her heart leapt in hope she was correct. She strained to pinpoint the origin of the sound. Just over the next small knoll she found the source to be a small brook cutting a narrow path through the snowy underbrush. She fell to her knees before that clear, cold flowing water. She bent closely to smell it first. Its scent seemed fine but it was too cold to be certain without tasting it. But she had little choice. She had'nt had anything to drink or eat since before they all boarded the small plane for what was supposed to be a short hop, skip and a jump to the off grid cabin her Aunt had built alone and by her own hand to finally retire one day. That day would never happen now her Aunts cold dead remains were forever entombed within the small craft whos location was known by no one, not even her now. She realized she wasnt moving anymore. She leaned forward and took the smallest sip of the frigid waters. It was clean, it tasted sweeter, more refreshing than anything she had ever tasted before. She could feel her energy levels increase as imagined her moral was boosted over 300%. Yet she drank just enough to satiate her thirst, but not too much as to make her feel bloated, over full and unsteady on her feet. She re oriented herself in the direction she had hoped that sad, empty and lonely cabin was in and again she was running... She again was trying her best to keep moving in the right direction. But without the sun she was sure she was turning in circles. She climbed a fairly tall tree and rose to the point where she could actually see just how much trouble she was really in... . 🤷‍♂️

@92Mayah Жыл бұрын

Great story, I wish to know how it ends...

@Svinutka 10 жыл бұрын

Ou, thanx for sharing, generous time, how long have u lucky guys had yr private q&a? Envious but glad 8-) cheers

@StagingShakespeare 9 жыл бұрын

Svinutka Uber Lucky!

@johnshlichta3101 7 жыл бұрын

wow!

@tomimpala 5 жыл бұрын

There's something so sad and scary about this.

@edwardprice140 6 жыл бұрын

What is....Waiting for Godot was the final question on "JEOPARDY" today, 11/14/2017 One of the 3 got it right. At 17.26 mark.

@mickdevlin 11 ай бұрын

Isn't it lovely to listen to ian in his natural Lancashire accent? Would that we could speak English so splendidly. I know I can't....

@KristofskiKabuki 3 жыл бұрын

I mean, even if Godot is a common french name, Beckett picked it as a native english speaker, so that must certainly mean something

@herrklamm1454 3 жыл бұрын

Beckett himself would disagree, but I don’t believe him.

@jeanne-mariekoekemoer3975 2 жыл бұрын

I think he probably did intend a resemblance to "God" but then rather some supplementary figure of power, almost like God- something of higher power that defines your life and meaning. But I think he actually did speak on it and said that it wasn't at all God so who knows I suppose :)

@MarkHalberstram Жыл бұрын

Didn’t Beckett say he regretted using the name Godot because people kept erroneously making that connection?

@siriusvenus8708 Жыл бұрын

The script of W for G is so porous that with the phonetic mash-up of God and godot people can fill in the blanks and turn the play into many themes of a multi-faceted personal journey into their own waiting game in Life--mostly waiting for God, waiting for something that is a fiction waiting for something or someone who is a liar and waiting for some authority to give you permission to kill yourself or die or be a master or a slave--etc etc. I just like the comedy inherent in the play and the irony (not "just" but to me it's not a sad play but it's definitely an entire comic cosmic tragic human foible depicted by Beckett).

@mohamedelsayeed397 2 жыл бұрын

Godot means 'boots' in French!!!

@paultroop3850 Жыл бұрын

McKellen has the gleam of the meaning of the play, but falls far short. The play takes place in the French countryside when Beckett was hiding from the Gestapo IN WWII. All the characters are different aspects of the same person-- him. What is the genius of Beckett is that unlike other playwrights who follow a time sequence, he examines a moment. Beckett says it well in the second act in the speech by Pozzo: "Have you not done tormenting me with your accursed time! It's abominable. When! When! One day is that not enough for you? One day I went blind, one day we'll go deaf, one day we were born, one day we shall die, the same day, the same second. Is that not enough for you?"

@comiclover99 Жыл бұрын

I mean, that's surely one reading but I think it's a bit too psychological for Beckett. One thing I like about Beckett is how he focuses on bodies themselves, usually with a disability of some kind (think of Endgame or Happy Days). He explores the body for its own sake and in its own way, without a reduction of the body to the mind. I really hate interpretations that reduce the bodies which populate his plays to figments of the mind. It forgets their corporeal nature which is so fundamental to their character. This I think makes sense of why Beckett progressed toward mime as a form of theatre with works like Quad. You see how I disagreed with you based on what I percieve as a flaw in your argument? Thats how you show someone "falls short" in their interpretation. Not by just stating your own interpretation as if it was the fact of the matter.

@paultroop3850 Жыл бұрын

@@comiclover99 The interesting thing about your criticism is you don't give al alternative explanation of what the play is about. (I've got to admit you've got me with the idea that a writer can separate mind and body.) Again, place Godet in its historiical context and it makes complete sense.. If you take the same approah with Happy Days and Krap's Last Tape the meanings jump out at you. Quod and the unfinished movie he tried to make in New York showed a once great genius fighting to keep himself relevant. But I am glad you responded to my my critique of McKellen, who like the others who appear on UTube clips, seeks too hard and misses the obvious.

@comiclover99 Жыл бұрын

@@paultroop3850 I dont think the play is "about" something in the way you seem to present it. It can't be translated into a "true" meaning where all the characters represent something more than they actually are. All attempts at saying Vladimir represents this and Estragon that end up masking the experience of actually watching and experiencing the play. Interpretation should try to enlighten our experience of the piece rather than cover it up with a layer of interpretation as yours seems to do. So my interpretation is that Beckett uses the space of Waiting for Godot to explore the deterioration of bodies in a post-war world. The ways in which the body and the mind break down just as social order does. Thats what I felt when watching it but I needed time and work to know thats what I felt. Thats what interpretation should be. Not "heres some historical detail which reveals the hidden truth of the text". I doubt Beckett would ever agree to such a proposition. Especially considering your dismissal of his later work which explores the same fundamental insighrs his early work introduces.

@paultroop3850 Жыл бұрын

@@comiclover99 (1) Beckett wrote the play in 1946. Hardly time for post-war "rot." to set in. I reading of a biolgraphy of Beckett would show the link between the play and his war-time experience hiding from the Gestopo. He was alone and fearful of anyone he met. (2) There were plays about the condition of Europe in the 1950s. In these characters represented different philosophical and political positions. Pinter's The Caretaker was interpreted that way. (3) When I watch an "intelllecctual" play I ask what was the meaning that the playwrite meant to communicate. I can't say I ever sat back and had a play "wash over me." (4) Beckett's genius peaked at Godet, Happy Days, and Krapps Last Tape, in my opinion. Those who studied Beckett say his novels were his better works. I started to read Murphy (I think that was the name of it) and decided life was too short. (5) You know me as Paul Troop. Who the heck is KeymarchProductions?. .

@garundip.mcgrundy8311 7 жыл бұрын

This is a voice over by Ian McClalen. The real speaker is a Shakespearean actor named Gills Stephens. Stephens is performing a segment of Henry IV. The scene where Henry learns of his mis-spent life among the court representatives of the King of France. The punch line, in French, concerns the Jews of the Paris cloister. A young girl speaks out on the remarkable sayings of the Parisian monk Louis deMarr. DeMarr cites from Aristotle. "Socrates is a fool!" The audience laughs.

@GordonjSmith1 6 жыл бұрын

Must be another video. This IS Ian McKellen, and he is speaking.