Godot Is a Woman

Publishing as an industry is obsessed with new – books yet to come out… but what about the brilliant books that have already been published? Each month we spotlight a different author whose book was published more than a year ago, which you might be yet to meet… This month we hear from Jack Wakely, Silent Faces Theatre about the brilliant Godot Is a Woman…

Shuffling the Shelves: Godot Is a Woman by Jack Wakely, Silent Faces Theatre

Without spoiling it too much, I hope, Godot Is a Woman centres around a frustrated acting troupe trying to get permission to perform Beckett’s masterpiece. Dare I ask, what was the original inspiration for the play?
Well, we are that frustrated acting troupe! We had very big ideas about doing Waiting for Godot as a company and, as soon as we started floating this idea to people we knew, we were hit with the knowledge that the Beckett Estate won't allow anyone but men to perform the play – no way, no how, no getting around it without risking a lawsuit. Rather than simply ranting into the void, we decided to use that energy to make a show that not only talks about the limitations on who can perform what on stage, but also speaks to all the things people of marginalised genders are shut out of and told aren't 'for' us.

There are obviously some serious messages underlying the humour – are there any main themes or points you want the reader to take away from your play?
The big thing is that the whole Godot debacle is symptomatic of a bigger issue – whose voices do we elevate on stage? Whose stories do we tell? Whose work do we canonise? I think that all art acts as a microcosm for the world at large and, at its heart, Beckett's Waiting for Godot is a play about human existence. So what does it say about us as a society when we insist only men can represent humanity?

The reviews and blurb tantalisingly reference music and Madonna – what on earth does she have to do with Waiting for Godot?
Well, for starters, we just can't resist a dance. That said, pop music is a musical genre that's often considered inherently frivolous and cheesy, which feels so dismissive of a huge swathe of music and the stories in there – much of it made by women! Truly, why should one art form be considered more important than the other anyway? We just loved the idea of smashing the two together and seeing what would happen: the absurd distinctions of the 'highbrow' vs the 'lowbrow'. With that in mind, we worked to weave in music by a whole heap of amazing female artists – including Madonna, Charli XCX, Chaka Khan and Beyoncé – throughout the whole show, both as a palate cleanser from the heavier stuff and to challenge perceptions of 'high' and 'low' art.

Despite the play showing frustration with Beckett’s artistic choices – or perhaps the modern insistence of adherence to them? – does this colour your enjoyment of his work?
As a company, we very much come from a place of deeply appreciating and being inspired by Beckett's work. I honestly don't think we would've – or even could've – made this show if we weren't fans of his writing, and we really think that shines through. If you're a Beckett superfan, there's a whole heap of little nods and winks waiting for you!

That said, I think all art has to be looked at with a critical eye, and no artist or work, no matter how revered, should be exempt from this. We're living in a completely different world to the one Beckett left in 1989. That this play isn't being permitted to move with the times is not only frustrating, but honestly feels like a hugely missed opportunity. For example, just look at the spin that was put on the work by having it staged by an all-Black cast in New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina – it breathed a new life and relevance into a piece of writing that's over seventy years old!

There’s a real conversation raging about which stories get told, and who gets to tell them. Do you think this is as important in terms of acting as well as writing?
I think that, until we live in a world where trans people, queer people, people of the global majority and disabled people have access to all the same acting opportunities as their cishet white abled colleagues, it's vital that they're the ones to tell their own stories on stage and screen. For example – the simple fact of the matter right now is that, if a character isn't written as disabled, it's much less likely that a disabled person will be cast in the role; when you then cast an abled actor in a role written for a disabled person, it's directly taking work away from disabled actors. Similarly, when we see cis men playing trans women (a practice that thankfully seems to be on the way out), not only is that role being taken out of the hands of a trans woman, but it directly contributes to rhetoric that refutes the womanhood of trans women and feeds into the violence the community faces.

What’s next for the Godot team – will you be performing again any time soon, or working on anything new we can expect to see?
Both Cordelia and I have recently had the opportunity to put on scratch performances of two new solo shows we're working on – both with the full support and backing of Silent Faces as a trio. After spending the last few years with our heads firmly in Godot Is a Woman, I'm excited to report we've also got a new show idea gently simmering away right now, so watch this space…

You're hosting an after-show dinner party. Which famous writer(s)/playwright(s) do you invite? Does Old Sam make the cut?
Sorry, Sam, you're gonna have to sit this one out. I don't have much space at my place for a big party, so I'll keep it on the smaller side and invite Martin McDonagh, Torrey Peters, Ocean Vuong and, just to mix it up a little, Euripides.

Given that there’s music woven throughout the play, I have to ask… and presuming you don’t have to spend hours on the phone to get permission: what's the background music at your dinner party?
My Spotify Wrapped last year would suggest it's going to be wall-to-wall Chappell Roan, but that's more conducive to dancing than gentle dinner chat, so I'll pretend I'm classy and go for James Rhodes' Bullets & Lullabies.

Up next…

We asked Jack to choose the next book to join the shuffled shelves, so join us here to find out more about Salmacis: Becoming Not Quite a Woman.