“Some Exceptions” and the “Normal Thing”: ReconsideringWaiting for Godot's Theatrical Form through Its Prison Performances

Abstract

Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot has long been read as a timeless and existential allegory portraying human fallibilities with which all viewers can identify. Building on recent scholarship that challenges such interpretations, this article demonstrates the particular manner in which Beckett's theatrical form, by turning around the relationship between the exception and the norm, articulates and responds to a modern form of incarceration. The article argues that Waiting for Godot explores the exceptional logic of detention by manipulating the relationship between spectators and performers in the theatre. An analysis of the play's prison performances further illuminates its performative dimensions and deepens an understanding of how it grapples with modern forms of detention. The final pages outline the implications of this reading for Beckett's larger oeuvre and argue that his “carceral theatricality” marks a significant development in modern drama.