Two men wait beside a tree for someone named Godot, who never arrives. 

First performed in Paris in 1953, Waiting for Godot helped establish the Theatre of the Absurd, though its most enduring achievement is less a rejection of meaning than an examination of our insistence upon finding it. 

Across two acts, Samuel Beckett constructs one of the twentieth century’s most influential plays from the apparent absence of anything happening. Vladimir and Estragon's exchanges move between slapstick comedy, philosophical uncertainty, tenderness and despair, exposing the habits by which people organise their lives around promises, expectations and the possibility of change. The two men talk, argue, forget, remember, consider leaving, and remain exactly where they are. Beckett offers no explanation for Godot's identity or the nature of the waiting. Instead, the play leaves its audience with the recognition that waiting itself may be the principal activity of human existence.

Edition/Condition: Faber and Faber, 1970 reprint of the 1965 second edition. Vintage orange Faber paperback. Noticeable rubbing and wear to covers, particularly along the spine and edges. Light age-related toning to pages.