Waiting for Godot Lesson Plan

The Irish-born writer Samuel Beckett wrote Waiting for Godot, his first published play and best-known work, in a brief period between October 1948 and January 1949. Originally written in French as En attendant Godot, the play premiered in Paris in 1953. It was translated into English by Beckett himself and had its English-language premiere in 1955 in London. Initial reactions to the play were mixed: while it was a financial success in Paris and London, critics and audiences alike were often bewildered by the play’s absurdist tack and its apparent lack of traditional plot or character development, and several of the early performances were marred by audience members’ leaving early. Over...