The buzz about the new production of Waiting for Godot is good, and I look forward to seeing it next weekend. Among the things I'm wondering about, though, is how they're pronouncing the title character's name. The best productions I've seen--one at the Matrix in L.A. in 2000, and one a few years back by Dublin's Gate Theatre--honored Beckett's apparent wishes and pronounced it "GOD-oh," with the same first-accent stress as "Pozzo" and "Gogo" (indeed, this Marx Bros.-esque rhythmic affinity is the most reasonable explanation for the similar pronunciation). But, of course, popularly the play is almost invariably referred to in a faux-French pronunciation, roughly "G'Doh," to the point that I feel a little awkward pronouncing it correctly in conversation. (Try it: It sounds weird but gets better with practice.)
This is hardly the most important element of a production of this classic--and I don't even recall how the actors in this production said it--but a friend from out of town I spoke to briefly who'd seen and enjoyed the new Broadway production recently referred to it in passing in the familiar English-class way ("Waiting for G'Doh"), and I didn't get a chance to split hairs with him. I'm curious, that's all.
6 comments:
Either way it's pronounced, I enjoyed this production very much. They go with the non-French, which seems more American (we accent the first syllable of everything, i.e. UM-brella, at least in the south we do). But given the talk of Franc's and other French items in the script, I would not mind Go-DOH either.
I've only ever heard Americans use the "G'doh" variation. Here in Britain, the first syllable is always stressed.
I remember the first time someone informed me of this pronunciation I went back and re-read the play. I found it was terrifyingly difficult to maintain. I have never seen a production that utilized it, but it seems like it might be to obvious of a pointing to Godot as God.
It's gone on too long, and now it's up to all us to do our part to correct this mistakenly pretentious mis-pronunciation.
Don't be shy, my friends, say it loud and say it proud: GODot. GODot. GODot.
I've always said it the French way because I first read it in the original version. (Have yet to actually read act 2 in English.)
I saw the show and was very impressed. They pronounced it GODot in this production.
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