News: TICKETS ON SALE FOR WAITING FOR GODOT STARRING LUCIAN MSAMATI AND BEN WHISHAW

 TICKETS ON SALE TODAY FOR

LUCIAN MSAMATI AND BEN WHISHAW IN

SAMUEL BECKETT’S

WAITING FOR GODOT

DIRECTED BY JAMES MACDONALD

OPENING AT THEATRE ROYAL HAYMARKET

13 SEPTEMBER - 14 DECEMBER 2024



The Producers today announce performance dates and on sale for the new production of Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot, directed by James Macdonald, starring Lucian Msamati (Estragon) and Ben Whishaw (Vladimir). Waiting for Godot will play a limited run at Theatre Royal Haymarket from 13 September until 14 December 2024, press night Thursday 19 September 2024.

 

Tickets go on general sale today with 25,000 tickets across the run priced at £25 and under, spread throughout the house, of which 5,000 are held for under 30s and key workers

 

Lucian Msamati said, “The wait has been worth it!  I look forward to making merry mischief with James Macdonald for the first time and a too long overdue reunion with the creative brilliance and genuine spirit that is Ben Whishaw”.

 

Ben Whishaw said, “When I was 18 I was doing an art foundation course in Bedford and went one night with a friend to London to see a play that was part of a season of plays by Samuel Beckett at the Barbican Theatre. The play was Waiting for Godot. The next day I dropped out of my art course, having decided I wanted to study acting instead. I am unbelievably thrilled and excited - and a little terrified too - to be having this chance to perform Beckett’s utterly radical and incredibly beautiful play. It has haunted me since that night 25 years ago. And to get to do it with Lucian Msamati and James Macdonald … well, that’s just a dream”.




 

Kate Horton, Fictionhouse, said, “We hope as many people as possible will have the chance to experience this production and be inspired by the trail-blazing play,  Waiting for Godot. So I’m delighted that we have 25,000 tickets for £25 and under available across the run, including 5,000 tickets particularly for under 30s and key workers.”

 

Also announced today are Rae Smith (Set and Costume Design) and Amy Ball (Casting CDG) joining the creative team, with further casting and creatives to be announced.

 

Didi and Gogo wait by a tree for a man named Godot. They don’t know who he is, why they are meeting or what time he is coming – only that something incredible could happen when he does…

“Let us do something, while we have the chance… at this place, at this moment of time, all mankind is us, whether we like it or not. Let us make the most of it before it is too late!” 

Don’t miss the play that changed the rules. Waiting for Godot opens at the historic Theatre Royal Haymarket for a strictly limited run from September 2024.

 

Lucian Msamati plays Estragon. Theatre credits include Master Harold and the Boys, Amadeus, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (National Theatre), A Wolf in Snakeskin Shoes (The Tricycle), Othello (RSC), Little Revolution (Almeida Theatre), The Amen Corner (National Theatre), If You Don't Let us Dream We Won't Let You A Sleep, Belong (Royal Court), Comedy of Errors (National Theatre), Clybourne Park (Royal Court/West End), Ruined (Almeida Theatre), Death and The Kings Horsman (National Theatre), The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui (Lyric Hammersmith), 1807- The First Act (Shakespeare’s Globe), Pericles (RSC), The Overwhelming (National Theatre), Walk Hard, Fabulation, Gem Of The Ocean (The Tricycle), Who Killed Mr Drum (Riverside), President of An Empty Room (National Theatre), Twelfth Night (Sheffield Crucible), Mourning Becomes Electra (National Theatre), I.D. (Almeida Theatre), Romeo & Juliet (The Dancehouse, Manchester), The Taming of the Shrew (Bath Shakespeare Festival), Born African (Arthur Seaton Theatre, New York), Twelfth Night (Neuss Globe Theatre, Germany), Fade to Black (Harare International Festival of Arts), Eternal Peace Asylum (American Repertory Theatre), Loot, Urfaust (Reps Theatre), Rocky Horror Picture Show (Seven Arts Theatre) and A Midsummer Night’s Dream (NTO Zimbawbe). Television credits include  Gangs of London (2 Seasons), Chemistry of Death, Dark Materials, Black Earth Rising, Kiri, Philip K Dick's Electric Dreams, Taboo, George Gently, Luther, Game of Thrones, Death in Paradise, Richard III, No.1 Ladies Detective Agency, Dr Who, Ashes To Ashes, Spooks, Just Like Ronaldinho, Ultimate Force, Too Close for Comfort, The Knock and Heads and Tales. Film credits include Conclave, Breaking Point, The Good Liar, The Seekers, The International, Coffin, Legend of the Sky, Kingdom, Dr Juju and Lumumba. Radio credits include: An Elegy For Easterly, Mugabe: God’s President, The Jero Plays, The Homecoming, Seventh Street and Alchemy and Colours.

Lucian is a founder member of Zimbabwe's Over the Edge theatre company and former Artistic Director of Tiata Fahodzi.

 

Ben Whishaw plays Vladimir. Ben is a multi award-winning British actor. His notable film credits include the role of Q in Skyfall, Spectre and No Time To Die; the voice of Paddington in Paddington and Paddington 2;  Perfume: The Story of a Murderer; Jane Campion’s Bright Star; Cloud Atlas; Tom Hooper’s multi award-winning The Danish Girl; The Lobster; in the role of Mr. Banks in Disney’s Mary Poppins Returns; Armando Iannucci’s The Personal History of David Copperfield; Alice Englert's Bad Behaviour with Jennifer Connelly; and Passages with Franz Rogowski and Adèle Exarchopoulos. We last saw Ben in Sarah Polley’s Women Talking, alongside Claire Foy and Frances McDormand, for which he was nominated for a Satellite Award, a Hollywood Critics Association Film Award and longlisted for a BAFTA for Best Supporting Actor.

 

It has been announced that he will reprise his role as the voice of the titular bear in Paddington in Peru and last year, he wrapped filming Limonov, The Ballad of Eddie in Russia and Latvia, in which he stars as Eduard Limonov. He'll star in the short film, Good Boy, the directorial debut of Tom Stuart with the support of Gia Coppola.

 

Ben’s TV credits include his role as Norman Scott in the mini-series A Very English Scandal opposite Hugh Grant. This performance saw Ben recognised with a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor - Series, Miniseries, or Motion Picture Made for Television, along with a Primetime Emmy Award and a BAFTA. Criminal Justice, The Hour, Fargo and a BAFTA award-winning performance in The Hollow Crown. He starred in the lead role of This Is Going To Hurt, the series adaptation of Adam Kay’s bestselling novel, for which he won Leading Actor in the 2023 BAFTA TV Awards along with Outstanding Performance in a New Series at the 2022 Gotham Awards and winning in the Best Actor category at the Broadcasting Press Guild Awards. Ben was nominated for numerous awards as well including Best Actor by the TV Choice Awards; a Critic’s Choice Awards for Best Actor In A Limited Series or Movie Made For Television and a Gold Derby Award for Limited / Movie Actor.

 

He is currently filming Black Doves (Netflix) and is starring alongside Keira Knightley and Sarah Lancashire.

 

Ben’s theatre credits have included Mojo (Harold Pinter Theatre), Peter and Alice (Noel Coward), Some Trace of Her and The Seagull (National Theatre), Leaves of Glass (Soho Theatre), Hamlet (Old Vic), Julius Caesar (The Bridge Theatre) and The Crucible (on Broadway). 

 

Waiting for Godot is produced by Kate Horton for Fictionhouse and Len Blavatnik and Danny Cohen for Access Entertainment, in association with Kate Pakenham Productions.

 

LISTINGS

 

WAITING FOR GODOT

Theatre Royal Haymarket

13 September - 14 December 2024

Press night: Thursday 19 September 2024.

www.waitingforgodotplay.com

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