Waiting for Godot!

Over the weekend, Jase and I went and saw Waiting for Godot, the two-act play famously described as one 'where nothing happens – twice'.

I studied this play at university and it remained a favourite of mine for much the same reasons as everyone else – you can read into it what you will, and apply its symbolism to your own life. (Let's describe it as a high-brow version of Dr Seuss' Waiting Place, for those unfamiliar with it!)


The stars of the play were none other than Sir Ian McKellan (Estragon) and Roger Rees (Vladimir). I'd heard this performance was coming to Melbourne a couple of months ago, and was quite excited until I saw the dates and decided against it, thinking it'd be too soon after my CIs were activated to make much sense of the voices.

I'd forgotten about it until I started seeing the billboards around Melbourne last week, and then came across the newspaper reviews.

Given how well I've adapted to the CIs, we figured, 'why not go?'

On such short notice, we were fairly limited to the days we could choose – the tickets were either sold out, or we were busy ourselves – but we were able to secure some great seats in the dress circle, for Saturday's matinee performance. Hmmm. We were taking even more of a risk now, given that the seats weren't in the hearing loop. (Have since learnt that the Comedy Theatre doesn't have a hearing loop.) But we decided to go with these seats.

I took along my battered copy of the play, thinking I was so clever. ('If I can't understand the actors very well, I'll read along!') Of course, when the curtains went up, the theatre became so dark that pulling out the book would have been pointless unless I wanted to risk a vision impairment.

So could I hear it?

I struggled with Act One. I could understand Vladimir, but only about a third of what Estragon was saying – a bit of a problem as it's Estragon who is delivering most of the humour. I was a bit surprised as Ian McKellan's voice is one I was familiar with when I had natural hearing ('That's what they used to call me – Gandalf the Grey!'). I think it's because his voice is quite deep though, and given the way the electrodes are positioned in the inner ear, deep voices are the hardest to discern. It was also quite loud, and I'd unfortunately set the volume too high before the show started, and that made his voice sound a bit tinny. (I still fall prey to the idea that volume brings clarity – it so does not!) I took the remote out at one point to try and adjust the settings but it immediately put out so much light that I quickly put it back in my bag so I didn't distract the other theatre-goers. (If the light didn't do it, the little clicking sound of the buttons probably would!) I decided to just sit put and make do as best as I could, until the intermission.

Thank goodness for the intermission! Here are some things I'll be sure to do before the show starts, next time I visit the theatre. Hopefully they're of some use to others out there. :-)

Step 1: go into the remote control settings and turn the brightness way down

Step 2: use these settings to mute the button sounds

Step 3: set the volume to a mid-range (I turned it down to '6', from 9')

Step 4: keep your coat on your lap

Step 5: position remote control between the folds of the coat, for easy access during the show

I would consider Act Two a success!

Being able to use the remote control discreetly meant I could adjust the settings for each character whenever I wanted to, if I needed to. As most of the second Act involves only the two main characters, it meant that once I'd found the right volume setting, I could sit back and enjoy the play. Both 'Focus' and 'Everyday' gave me great results.

During both Acts, I found I could differentiate the four male voices very well. This was a great relief as the person delivering the line wasn't always facing the audience. (The stage setting is the same throughout, and it's very dark and grey – that would have made lip-reading pretty difficult.) I was also really excited about being able to understand the child ('Boy') word-for-word, because until recently, I was still having a harder time understanding children's voices. 

Despite the lack of a hearing loop, I would attend this theatre again, but I would think twice about the dress circle. The seating is tiered in a way that makes it very steep. Great for the view, not so great for the vertigo. Over the last couple of weeks I've noticed I'm getting mild vertigo again – nothing a good night's sleep won't fix, for the most part. But when I stood up on that top step and looked down, realising I needed to make it almost all the way down with no rail to hold on to, I felt light-headed. After I was seated, it took ten minutes for things to stop swaying! (It did provide some beautiful ambience for the on-stage setting though, especially when the play commenced with the sound of wind blowing – I bet I was the only one who saw the tree swaying!)  

I am so glad I went. I laughed so much during the second Act and took away more meaning from the play than I ever did back at university, when I was forced to over-analyse every line. I certainly don't remember laughing that much when I read it! Ian McKellan was superb, bringing so much life to the character of Estragon, and the performance complemented Roger Rees' perfectly. (Clearly he is just as effective as delivering his humour off-stage too, based on this article: http://www.heraldsun.com.au/entertainment/sir-ian-mckellen-is-mistaken-for-a-tramp-on-a-melbourne-bench-between-waiting-for-godot-rehearsals/story-e6frf96f-1225863693015.)

I would have happily watched another two Acts about nothing, just to watch (and hear!) their exchange.

PS: Allow me to add a Step 6, as follows:

Before concerning yourself about not disturbing the strange person sitting beside you, be sure to check that they are actually awake. (I know I should have!)