LAHORE, July 9: The Urdu rendition of Samuel Beckett’s acclaimed play ‘Waiting for Godot’ was staged on Monday at Alhamra Art Centre, The Mall.

The performance was organised by the Alliance French Cultural Centre, Lahore, with the Lahore Arts Council.

A number of serious theatre lovers of all age groups came to the see the performance.

The play was staged by an Islamabad-based troupe, Theatre Wallay, a volunteer group of actors, directors, writers and performing art enthusiasts. The group mostly presents classic theatre and has produced ‘The Lesson’, ‘Moliere’s’, ‘Tartuffle’ and Sarter’s ‘No Exit’.

“Recognized as one of the best plays of French absurdist theatre, the play has been translated into many languages around the world, it is our privilege to bring this play to the public in Urdu,” said director of the play Tughraq Ali.

He said: “Theatre Wallay was conceived in 2005 under the patronage of French Cultural Center. We mostly stage French plays.”

French Cultural Center Director Dominique Scobry in his welcome address appreciated the audience for braving the muggy weather for the play. He said ‘Waiting For Godot’ was a classical play and it should be studied widely by people and students at colleges and universities.

The play opened with two characters Vladmir and Estragon who are locked in a seemingly eternal wait for Godot. All they know is that they are supposed to wait by a tree and that once Godot comes, the pointlessness of their lives will be over.

Vladimir and Estragon wait endlessly and in vain for the arrival of Godot. Godot's absence, as well as numerous other aspects of the play, led to many different interpretations since the play's premiere. It was voted "the most significant English language play of the 20th century".

Waiting for Godot is Beckett's translation of his own original French version, En attendant Godot, and is subtitled (in English only).

Samuel Barclay Beckett was an Irish avant-garde novelist, playwright, theatre director, and poet, who lived in Paris for most of his adult life and wrote in both English and French. His work offers a bleak, tragicomic outlook on human nature, often coupled with black comedy and gallows humour.

The audience highly appreciated the play and some fine acting by the artistes.

The cast included Salman Zaheer, Safeer Ullah Khan, Tajdar Zaidi, Osmaan Tariq and Abdul Rehman Tariq. Artwork and design was by Syed Hasan Pasha.