Forty Years On and Still Waiting

Reviewed by Nancy Riverbanks 27th November 2017

In November 1977, a small group of actors, musicians and designers came together with a radical vision for a new kind of theatre. After considerable sacrifices, and the contribution of enormous amounts of time and money, the group’s vision became a reality in Edinburgh one year later with the groundbreaking Waiting for Vladimir and Estragon.

Despite the critical acclaim of this production, the group were not satisfied and worked for decades to refine and distil their vision. On 25th November 2017, the cast and crew of the original Edinburgh production re-assembled for a new performance piece, Forty Years On and Still Waiting.

Even from the opening scene – an alternating line of male and female players sporting bowler hats – it is clear that the group has lost none of its power to surprise and intrigue. The literary references come thick and fast. The costumes are a clear homage to Beckett’s infamous vagrants, while the ‘forward and reverse’ orientations of the performers reference Roman mythology and the god of change and time, Janus. Surely too, the alternation is evocative of the ‘zebra crossing’, referencing the beasts of the savannah that leads one inevitably to juxtapose Ionesco’s classic Rhinoceros with the more recent musical The Lion King, a telling insight into the de-intellectualisation of modern popular culture.

Appropriately for such a subversive piece, it was performed in the heart of the British cultural establishment – the Courtyard at the Victoria and Albert Museum. In the space of ten short minutes, it seemed that every artistic and philosophical movement was mocked and every cultural icon was knocked off its pedestal. After a final curtain call, the group dispersed into the labyrinthine galleries of the museum as quickly as they had arrived.

Their departure however was not so swift to stop a passing stranger to call out “You have provided us with more entertainment than the V&A!” Praise indeed. It is comments like this which justify the group’s 40-year quest for perfection.