Later this autumn, the much-anticipated Paddington in Peru will arrive in cinemas, the third instalment of filmic adventures for the marmalade-loving ursine. Ben Whishaw will, once again, provide the incomparable voice of the bear himself. In a pleasing coming-together of diverse cultural strands, when the film opens Whishaw will be on stage performing in Samuel Beckett’s great modernist howl of existential anguish.
It is thrilling to have the opportunity to study this incomparable and mercurial actor live once again, after a brief run in the underwhelming Bluets at the Royal Court earlier this year. Here Whishaw, gentle of voice as ever, teams up to form a fine double act with Lucian Msamati; he is Vladimir, or Didi, and Msamati is Estragon, Gogo, and this pair of roadside philosophers are still waiting, just as they have been since the play’s English language premiere in 1955. A co-dependent couple of fractious friends in raggedy clothes, they have been in each other’s company for so long that all memories elide and slide so precipitously that Vladimir and Estragon are forced to question their veracity.
The circularity and futility of existence is theirs to worry at, but alongside life’s biggest questions are two equally pressing concerns: Gogo has problematic boots and Didi a problematic bladder. Msamati and Whishaw glide with ease between all vexatious issues, while we wonder what manner of insect life might be living inside their filthy hats. I first saw Godot wh.