French Performances

On January 4th 1953, “[t]hirty reviewers came to the générale of En attendant Godot before the public opening … Contrary to later legend, the reviewers were kind … Some dozen reviews in daily newspapers range[d] from tolerant to enthusiastic ... Reviews in the weeklies [were] longer and more fervent; moreover, they appeared in time to lure spectators to that first thirty-day run”(Cohn, R.) which occurred the very next day at the Théâtre de Babylone in Paris. Early public performances came with a few road bumps. Notably, During one performance, “the curtain had to be brought down after Lucky’s monologue as twenty, well-dressed, but disgruntled spectators whistled and hooted derisively … One of the protesters [even] wrote a vituperative letter dated 2nd February 1953 to Le Monde." (Knowlson, J)

Film Performances

Beckett had man offers to film the play but resisted them all, despite that it was still televised in his lifetime. Keep Films made Beckett an offer to film an adaptation Beckett tersely told his French publisher to advise them: “I do not want a film of Godot.” Despite Beckett's protests, BBC broadcasted a production of Waiting for Godot on June 26,1961. A version for radio having already been transmitted on 25th April 1960. Beckett watched the program, and was unhappy with what he saw. “My play,” he said, “wasn’t written for this box. My play was written for small men locked in a big space. Here you’re all too big for the place.”

Women Performances

In the 1980s several women only acting companies began to stage the play. “Women don’t have prostates,” said Beckett, in reference to Vladimir who frequently leaves stage to urinate, on account of his enlarged prostate. In 1988 Beckett took a Dutch theatre company, De Haarlemse Toneelschuur, to court over the gender issue. “Beckett … lost his case. But the issue of gender seemed to him to be so vital a distinction for a playwright to make that he reacted angrily, instituting a ban on all productions of his plays in The Netherlands.” Though, in 1991 “Judge Huguette Le Foyer de Costil ruled that the production would not cause excessive damage to Beckett's legacy” thus the play was performed with an all female cast despite Beckett's protests.

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