Lucian Msamati recalls backstage thrill of Waiting for Godot’s first night

Lucian Msamati describes the electric backstage moments before the first night of Waiting for Godot, standing in the wings alongside Ben Whishaw and feeling the surge of the audience as they prepared to go on.

After a five-year absence from the stage Msamati writes of steady breathing, a lump in his throat and the pre-show adrenaline. He and Whishaw hold hands in the dark until deputy stage manager Sophie Rubenstein calls “front of house clearance,” the platform rotates and the lights come up on them in front of about 800 audience members.

Early in the performance an unexpected burst of laughter greets a line about “the 90s,” and Msamati says he quickly autocorrects and they recover. He praises Jonathan Slinger’s poise and Tom Edden’s delivery of Lucky’s speech, noting how the cast rode the audience’s reactions as scenes unfolded, including Whishaw wrenching off Lucky’s hat at the decisive moment.

The curtain call brought a standing ovation from a diverse house and the company fell into an elated, exhausted group hug; Msamati says he briefly burst into tears. This is an edited extract from The Godot Diaries: Behind the Scenes of Beckett’s Play by Lucian Msamati (Methuen Drama).

Key Topics

Culture, Lucian Msamati, Ben Whishaw, Jonathan Slinger, Tom Edden