Waiting for Godot - at Tramway
Thesis project, MDes Interior Design GSA
June 2023- August 2023
In this project, using Samuel Beckett’s theatre play «Waiting for Godot», I have tried to frame how I interpret the idea of a contemporary theatre experience and highlight the importance of continually expanding the limits of theatre typology. Exploring the relationship between audience and stage and the concept of doing the most with the least on set design process, this project seeks to challenge the conventional meanings assigned to objects within the play.
You can read the full analysis here:
The story follows Estragon and Vladimir, who are trapped in the same location, spending their entire lives waiting for the arrival of Godot. They are trying to make the time pass by finding ways to interact with each other and the objects that surround them. Even though their movements and the relationship with the objects in the play is very detailed, I had the sense of random incidents that happen in repeat, so each day is almost the same as the previous one and will be the same with the day after. That makes me question what is of the most importance, the objects or the rituals created by the objects within the play. And if I give these objects new meanings, how can this openness to different interpretations give me the freedom to imagine different objects, different interactions with the objects and different spaces.
My intention is to re envision the most ubiquitous theatre typology of our era: the black box – a vessel for illusions, where the concealed backstage area remains hidden from the audience’s view. I began contemplating the prospect of revealing all the concealed components inherent to theatre design. These elements are commonly seen as a way to challenge the illusionist nature of theatre, thereby crafting a typology that functions as a mechanism for generating illusions.
POSTER
TRAMWAY GLASGOW
ACT 1 WAITING FOR GODOT
ACT 1 - TYPOLOGY
In Act 1, the stage serves as a folding box, wherein the back wall folds and unfolds to create a variable stage. During the first half of the act, one part of the audience experiences a live theatre performance, while the other half witnesses the projection of this act on a screen. In the second half of Act 1, the typology reverses, and those who initially watched the live action now observe the cinematic approach, while the roles of the audience segments switch.
THE SUNDIAL
Drawing inspiration from the sun movement, I have incorporated the concept of a sundial into my design to emphasize the passage of time. In the first Act, the lights follow a circular trajectory, and their positions only shift when the characters perform a ritual. Ponzo and Lucky make their entrance at noon, and as they leave, the sun gradually descends, marking the progression towards sunset.
RITUALS
ACT 1-FIRST SCENE
Estragon, sitting on a low mound, is trying to take off his boot. He pulls at it with both hands, panting. He gives up, exhausted, rests, tries again. As before. Enter Vladimir.(advancing with short, stiff strides, legs wide apart).
ACT 1 VLADIMIR - ESTRAGON
(Vladimir rummages in his pockets, takes out a carrot and gives it to Estragon)
ENTER PONZO AND LUCKY
A terrible cry, close at hand. Estragon drops the carrot. They remain motionless, then together make a sudden rush towards the wings. Estragon stops halfway, runs back, picks up the carrot, stuffs it in his pocket, runs to rejoin Vladimir who is waiting for him, stops again, runs back, picks up his boot, runs to rejoin Vladimir. Huddled together, shoulders hunched, cringing away from the menace, they wait.
ACT 2 WAITING FOR GODOT
ACT-2-ENTRANCE
"Estragon’s boots front center, heels together, toes splayed. Lucky’s hat at same place. The tree has four or five leaves. Enter Vladimir agitatedly. He halts and looks long at the tree, then suddenly begins to move feverishly about the stage. He halts before the boots, picks one up, examines it, sniffs it, manifests disgust, puts it back carefully. Comes and goes. Halts extreme right and gazes into distance off, shading his eyes with his hand. Comes and goes. Halts extreme left, as before. Comes and goes. Halts suddenly and begins to sing loudly."
ACT-2
Vladimir- Estragon
ACT-2
Vladimir : Was I sleeping, while the others suffered? Am I sleeping now? Tomorrow, when I wake, or think I do, what shall I say of today? That with Estragon my friend, at this place, until the fall of night, I waited for Godot? That Pozzo passed, with his carrier, and that he spoke to us? Probably. But in all that what truth will there be? (Estragon, having struggled with his boots in vain, is dozing off again. Vladimir looks at him.He goes feverishly to and fro, halts finally at extreme left, broods.
PERSONAL INSIGHTS
The lighting softened as Vladimir began his monologue. He closed the window and door panels. The stage gradually emptied, leaving only the lights shining. After the Boy departed, Estragon and Vladimir stood at the center of the stage, bathed in minimal lighting.
ACT 2 TYPOLOGY
In Act 2, the stage transforms into a rectangular shape, within which window shutters and doors unfold to create geometrical panels. These panels are placed in specific positions, remaining stationary and awaiting objects to stand beside them, casting hidden shapes and altering their shadows.
PANELS
THE LIGHT SWITCH
In the second act of the play, the environment in which the characters interact continues to be indeterminate, but it now embodies an ambiguous domestic setting—a personal interior, reflecting one’s inner space. The lighting aligns with this concept, transitioning from the emulation of natural light to the simulation of typical interior lighting found in our homes. Each day is characterized by specific instances of lighting being switched on and off, thus this interpretation could be regarded as a method of marking the passage of time.
Illustrations of how various lighting techniques influence distinct shadow formations
FINAL SCENE
The sun sets, the moon rises. As in Act 1. Vladimir stands motionless and bowed. Estragon wakes, takes off his boots, gets up with one in each hand and goes and puts them down center front, then goes towards Vladimir. VLADIMIR: We’ll hang ourselves tomorrow. (Pause.) Unless Godot comes. ESTRAGON: And if he comes? VLADIMIR: We’ll be saved. VLADIMIR: Well? Shall we go? ESTRAGON: Yes, let’s go. They do not move
HOW RITUALS SHAPE SPACE
In the final stage of my project, I want to emphasise the power of ritual. I aim to showcase how the repetitive motions that individuals engage in daily without realising construct a confined space within our personal sphere, often without our conscious awareness.
AUDIENCE ENGAGEMENT
After the end of the play, the audience will not be directed towards the exit as expected. Instead, they will be subtly diverted to a path leading back to the stage, without their knowledge or awareness.
AUDIENCE PATHS
Upon entering from two different doors within the setting, the audience will be guided along the paths they had previously performed by the characters. Overhead spotlights will outline the pathway, while laser lights will highlight the boundaries created by the characters’ rituals. After the end of the play, the audience will not be directed towards the exit as expected. Instead, they will be subtly diverted to a path leading back to the stage, without their knowledge or awareness.Upon entering from two different doors within the setting, the audience will be guided along the paths they had previously performed by the characters. Overhead spotlights will outline the pathway, while laser lights will highlight the boundaries created by the characters’ rituals. Vladimir, Estragon, Pozzo, and Lucky can serve as reflections of any one of us. Their experiences can easily relate to our own lives. As Pozzo mentioned in Act 1,“Remark that I might just as well have been in his shoes and he in mine. If chance had not willed otherwise. To each one his due.”
SHAPING THE TYPOLOGY
PATHS AND RITUALS
CHARACTERS
