Further casting has been announced for the new production of Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot, directed by James Macdonald. Tom Edden (Crazy For You, Jamie Lloyd Company’s Cyrano De Bergerac) will play Lucky and Jonathan Slinger (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, title roles in Richard II and Richard III in the RSC Histories) will play Pozzo. They join the previously announced Lucian Msamati (Game of Thrones, Amadeus) as Estragon and Ben Whishaw (James Bond, Paddington) as Vladimir. Waiting for Godot will play a limited run at the Theatre Royal Haymarket from 13 September to 14 December 2024, press night Thursday 19 September 2024.
Tickets are on sale now. There are 25,000 tickets for the entire run sold at £25 or less, spread across the house. Of these, 5,000 are reserved for under-30s and those working in public lighting.
The creative team includes Rae Smith (Set and Costume Design), Bruno Poet (Lighting Design), Ian Dickinson and Niamh Gaffney for Autograph (Sound Design), Amy Ball (Casting CDG), Kate West (Production Manager) and Max Harrison (Assistant Director).
Didi and Gogo are waiting by a tree for a man named Godot. They don’t know who he is, why they’re meeting, or what time he’ll come—only that something incredible could happen when he does…
“Let’s do something, while we have the chance… in this place, at this moment in time, all of humanity is us, whether we like it or not. Let’s make the most of it before it’s too late!”
Don’t miss the play that changed the rules. Waiting for Godot opens at the historic Theatre Royal Haymarket for a strictly limited run from September 2024.
Lucian Msamati plays Estragon. Theatre credits include Master Harold and the Boys, Amadeus, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (National Theatre), A Wolf in Snakeskin Shoes (The Tricycle), Othello (RSC), Little Revolution (Almeida Theatre), The Amen Corner (National Theatre), If You Don’t Let us Dream We Won’t Let You A Sleep, Belong (Royal Court), Comedy of Errors (National Theatre), Clybourne Park (Royal Court/West End), Ruined (Almeida Theatre), Death and The Kings Horsman (National Theatre), The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui (Lyric Hammersmith), 1807- The First Act (Shakespeare’s Globe), Pericles (RSC), The Overwhelming (National Theatre), Walk Hard, Fabulation, Gem Of The Ocean (The Tricycle), Who Killed Mr Drum (Riverside), President of An Empty Room (National Theatre), Twelfth Night (Sheffield Crucible), Mourning Becomes Electra (National Theatre), I.D. (Almeida Theatre), Romeo & Juliet (The Dancehouse, Manchester), The Taming of the Shrew (Bath Shakespeare Festival), Born African (Arthur Seaton Theatre, New York), Twelfth Night (Neuss Globe Theatre, Germany), Fade to Black (Harare International Festival of Arts), Eternal Peace Asylum (American Repertory Theatre), Loot, Urfaust (Reps Theatre), Rocky Horror Picture Show (Seven Arts Theatre) and A Midsummer Night’s Dream (NTO Zimbabwe).
Television credits include Gangs of London (2 seasons), Chemistry of Death, Dark Materials, Black Earth Rising, Kiri, Philip K Dick’s Electric Dreams, Taboo, George Gently, Luther, Game of Thrones, Death in Paradise, Richard III, No.1 Ladies Detective Agency, Dr Who, Ashes To Ashes, Spooks, Just Like Ronaldinho, Ultimate Force, Too Close for Comfort, The Knock and Heads and Tales. Film credits include Conclave, Breaking Point, The Good Liar, The Seekers, The International, Coffin, Legend of the Sky, Kingdom, Dr Juju and Lumumba. Radio credits include: An Elegy For Easterly, Mugabe: God’s President, The Jero Plays, The Homecoming, Seventh Street and Alchemy and Colours.
Lucian is a founding member of the Zimbabwean theatre company Over the Edge and former artistic director of Tiata Fahodzi.
Ben Whishaw is a multi-award-winning British actor. His notable film credits include the role of Q in Skyfall, Spectre and No Time To Die; the voice of Paddington in Paddington and Paddington 2; Perfume: The Story Of A Murderer; Jane Campion’s Bright Star; Cloud Atlas; Tom Hooper’s multi-award-winning The Danish Girl; The Lobster; as Mr. Banks in Disney’s Mary Poppins Returns; Armando Iannucci’s The Personal History Of David Copperfield; Alice Englert’s Bad Behaviour with Jennifer Connelly; and Passages with Franz Rogowski and Adèle Exarchopoulos. Ben was last seen in Sarah Polley’s Women Talking opposite Claire Foy and Frances McDormand, for which he was nominated for a Satellite Award, a Hollywood Critics Association Film Award and longlisted for a BAFTA for Best Supporting Actor.
He has been announced to reprise his role as the voice of the titular bear in Paddington In Peru, which opens in the UK on 8 November. He will star in Limonov, The Ballad Of Eddie as Eduard Limonov. He starred in the short film Good Boy, Tom Stuart’s directorial debut helmed by Gia Coppola, which was nominated for Best Live Action Short Film at the 96th Academy Awards.
Ben’s television credits include his role as Norman Scott in the miniseries A Very English Scandal opposite Hugh Grant. This performance earned Ben a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor – Series, Miniseries or Motion Picture Made for Television, along with a Primetime Emmy Award and a BAFTA. Criminal Justice, The Hour, Fargo and a BAFTA-winning performance in The Hollow Crown. He starred in This Is Going To Hurt, the series adaptation of Adam Kay’s best-selling novel, for which he won Best Supporting Actor at the 2023 BAFTA TV Awards, along with Outstanding Performance in a New Series at the 2022 Gotham Awards, and won Best Actor at the Broadcasting Press Guild Awards. Ben has also been nominated for numerous awards, including Best Actor at the TV Choice Awards; a Critics’ Choice Award for Best Actor in a Limited Series or Motion Picture Made for Television and a Gold Derby Award for Limited/Movie Actor.
He just wrapped filming for Black Doves (Netflix) and stars opposite Keira Knightley and Sarah Lancashire.
Ben has appeared in Mojo (Harold Pinter Theatre), Peter And Alice (Noël Coward), Some Trace Of Her and The Seagull (National Theatre), Leaves Of Glass (Soho Theatre), Hamlet (Old Vic), Julius Caesar (The Bridge Theatre) and The Crucible (on Broadway). He recently appeared in Bluets (Royal Court Theatre) with Emma D’Arcy and Kayla Meikle.
Tom Edden plays Lucky. Theatre credits include: The Merry Widow (Glyndebourne), Crazy For You (West End/Chichester Festival), Cyrano de Bergerac, The Pinter Season and Doctor Faustus (West End/Jamie Lloyd Company); Matilda (West End/RSC); The Resistible Rise Of Arturo Ui (Donmar); Amadeus (National Theatre); Our Town (Regents Park Theatre), Measure for Measure (Young Vic); Peter Pan Goes Wrong (West End, Apollo)); Les Miserables (West End, Queens Theatre); A Little Hotel on the Side (Theatre Royal Bath); Hamlet, Betrayal & Summer Lightning (Royal Theatre Northampton); Oliver! (Sheffield Crucible (nominated for the UK Theatre Award for Best Actor in a Musical) and One Man Two Guvnors (National Theatre, West End, Broadway; (Drama Desk Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role and nominated for a Tony and Critic’s Circle Award ). Television credits include: Starstruck, Singapore Grip, Upstart Crow, The Scandalous Lady W, Doctor Who, Stuart a Life Backwards, Spartans, The Wolf Man. Film credits include: Star Wars Episode VII- The Force Awakens, Mr Turner and Cinderella.
Jonathan Slinger plays Pozzo. Recent screen credits include a series regular in Alex Rider (Amazon), all 3 episodes of the critically acclaimed Salisbury Poisonings, as well as Michaela Coel’s I May Destroy You (both BBC), The Sixth Commandment (BBC) and A Gentleman in Moscow (Paramount Plus). Pre-pandemic Jonathan starred in the West End transfer of the Olivier Award-winning production City of Angels; between lockdowns he starred in the critically acclaimed run of Crave at Chichester Festival Theatre and in David Mamet’s Oleanna at the Arts Theatre in the West End to critical acclaim. Last year he guest starred in Shadow and Bone for Netflix and later that year he played the role of Eddie Carbone in A View From The Bridge, a co-production with Headlong, Octagon Theatre Bolton and Rose Theatre. He is currently filming a series regular in Haven (Amazon).
James Macdonald, Director. James was Deputy Director and Deputy Director at the Royal Court for 14 years and was also a NESTA Fellow from 2003 to 2006. For the Royal Court: Glass.Kill.Imp.Bluebeard, One For Sorrow, The Children (& MTC/Broadway), Escaped Alone (& BAM, NYC), The Wolf From The Door, Circle Mirror Transformation, Love & Information (& NYTW), c*ck(& Duke, NYC), Drunk Enough To Say I Love You (& Public, NYC), Dying City (& Lincoln Center, NYC), Fewer Emergencies, Lucky Dog, Blood, Blasted, 4.48 Psychosis ( & St Anne’s Warehouse, NYC/US & European tours), Hard Fruit, Real Classy Affair, Cleansed, Bailegangaire, Harry & Me, Simpatico, Peaches, Thyestes, Hammett’s Apprentice, The Terrible Voice Of Satan, Putting Two and Two Together.
Other theatre performances include: Infinite Life (National Theatre), The Cherry Orchard (Yard Theatre); Night Of The Iguana, John, Dido Queen Of Carthage, The Hour We Knew Nothing Of Each Other, Exiles (National); Who’s Afraid Of Virginia Woolf?, Glengarry Glen Ross, The Changing Room (West End); The Tempest, Roberto Zucco (RSC); Sea Creatures, Wild, And No More Shall We Part, #Aiww – The Arrest Of Ai Weiwei (Hampstead); The Father (Theatre Royal, Bath/Tricycle/West End); Bakkhai, A Delicate Balance, Judgement Day, The Triumph Of Love (Almeida); A Doll’s House Part 2, The Way Of The World, Roots (Donmar); The Chinese Room (Williamstown Festival); Cloud Nine (Atlantic, NYC); a number (NYTW); King Lear, The Book Of Grace (Public, NYC); Top Girls (MTC/Broadway); John Gabriel Borkman (Abbey, Dublin/BAM, NYC); Troilus and Cressida, The Copies (Schaubuehne, Berlin); 4.48 Psychosis (Burgtheater, Vienna); Love’s Labour’s Lost, Richard Ii (Royal Exchange, Manchester); The Rivals (Nottingham Playhouse); The Crackwalker (Gate); The Seagull (Crucible, Sheffield); Miss Julie (Oldham Coliseum); Juno & The Paycock, Ice Cream/Hot Fudge, Romeo & Juliet, Fool For Love, Savage/Love, Master Harold & The Boys (Contact, Manchester); Prem (BAC/Soho Poly). Opera includes: A Ring A Lamp A Thing (Linbury); Eugene Onegin, Rigoletto (Welsh National Opera); The Magic Flute (Garsington); Wolf Club Village, Night Banquet (Almeida Opera); Oedipus Rex, Survivor From Warsaw (Royal Exchange, Manchester/Hallé); Lives of the Great Poisoners (Second Stride).
Film contains: A Number (HBO/BBC).
Waiting for Godot is produced by Kate Horton for Fictionhouse and Len Blavatnik and Danny Cohen for Access Entertainment, in association with Kate Pakenham Productions.
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