Waiting for Godot (/ˈɡɒdoʊ/ GOD-oh[1]) is a play by Irish playwright Samuel Beckett in which two characters, Vladimir (Didi) and Estragon (Gogo), engage in a variety of discussions and encounters while awaiting the titular Godot, who never arrives.[2] Waiting for Godot is Beckett's reworking of his own original French-language play, En attendant Godot, and is subtitled (in English only) "a tragicomedy in two acts".[3]
The original French text was composed between 9 October 1948 and 29 January 1949.[4] The premiere, directed by Roger Blin, was on 5 January 1953 at the Théâtre de Babylone, Paris. The English-language version premiered in London in 1955. In a poll conducted by the British Royal National Theatre in 1998/99, it was voted the "most significant English-language play of the 20th century".[5][6][7]
