"Watching Garry Hynes’s highly stylized and very funny staging of this classic of modern literature, I found myself transported to Saturday mornings with Looney Tunes from my childhood...What you may find yourself missing is the deeply touching familiarity of Gogo and Didi’s relationship...Still, for theatergoers new to Beckett, I can’t imagine a better introduction than this lucid and entertaining cartoon of a show. That its comic exaggeration can feel a bit distancing may be for the best."
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"The production excels at finding the humor in the mundane; it pierces with a gracious, poignant truth of friendship. Haynes mines the piece for its quiet moments and visceral existential angst and vaudeville farce. She firmly redefines our notion of tragic daily rituals while finding the necessary, vital humor...There's immense heart to this production...Hynes direction is assured, filled with comedic grace and the brittle tension of daily grind."
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“Hynes' production has an artfully cartooned quality all its own...The actors seem to leap from one comic conceit to another with such skill that some of the play's darker, deeper notes are obscured. But, in the later passages, a genuine and profound sense of loss emerges...For all its comic invention, Hynes' approach may not be to all tastes...In any case, it's a fine chance...to contemplate the very real synchronicity between Beckett's viewpoint and black humor."
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"What I hadn’t been prepared for was her eye-popping casting of tall, pencil-thin Marty Rea as Vladimir and of shorter, inevitably wider Aaron Monaghan as Estragon...Both Rea and Monaghan are first-rate physical actors...Monaghan and Rea, with Hynes, have discovered funny ways not to be able to maintain their balance. They’re constantly brimming with risible behaviors...It’s Beckett who transforms the confused stand-up communications into profound existential humor."
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"A very fine staging...A truly radiant interpretation of Beckett’s challenging work. The closely meshed performances by Rea and Monaghan possess a personal warmth and vitality that brightens the existential desolation of Beckett’s classic...Somehow they are able to be as funny as they are poignant, and that’s quite an achievement...Garry Hynes, the director, successfully infuses Beckett’s bleak study in existence with a warm, wonderful sense of humor and eternal life."
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"Ms. Hynes has the cast at full speed emphasizing slapstick and employing stylized poses and gestures...Movement director Nick Winston’s efforts are accomplished if overdone. The plethora of gags and set up punchline recitation gets laughs at the expense of emotional resonance...This 'Waiting for Godot' is overall pleasing without making much of an impact."
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“Never have I experienced ‘Waiting for Godot’ in such a brand new way than I did with director Hynes’ interpretation...By far the funniest version I’ve seen and it hits closest to home with Beckett’s text. The production fully embraces the possibilities of comedy, both through text and movement in this otherwise very quiet play. The result is deeply satisfying. It galvanizes an unsettling, surreal, and entertaining version of ‘Godot’.”
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"Damn close to perfect. Garry Hynes's meticulous direction exquisitely balances the pain and humor of Beckett's heartbreakingly funny play...'Godot' hits particularly hard this time around, with the rich bully Pozzo, full of bluster and in desperate need of constant flattery, being a scarily effective stand-in for our 45th president."
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