Word: plays
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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Crimson Dominates Play...
Their ringmaster is Jan Hartman'60, and in a sense his job is an easy one; it is difficult for an intelligent group of actors to go very far wrong with Waiting for Godot. The play is constructed of a series of savage ironies, with a vein of harsh pessimism running behind it and through it. So long as the ironies and the pessimism emerge, a director can take the play any way he likes, if he moves with intelligence and consistency...
Mechanically, the production is weak. The attempt to make Matisoff look bald makes him look like a victim of skull-fracture. The lights flicker at odd moments. The producers did not bother to procure a little boy for the messenger role. Happily enough, the almost dadaist spirit of the play accommodates any number of lapses like these, as long as the actors are as convincing as the current group...
...only serious technical lapse is unavoidable, given the site. Much of Godot is played lying down; since the ballroom floor is not pitched, only the first few rows can see the whole play...
...above begs the question every review must answer: is the play worth seeing? The answer, upon reflection, is yes. With its several flaws, Hartman's Godot stands up well when compared to the excellent all-Negro version. Matisoff may be even better than his opposite number was; only Graham falls far short, which merely proves that there are too few Geoffrey Holders in the theatre. And, after all, everyone should see Waiting for Godot at least once...