Staging his classic tragicomedy “Waiting for Godot” with an all-female cast was not something of which playwright Samuel Beckett approved.
In fact, Beckett unsuccessfully sued a Dutch theater company that put on a production with all female actors in 1988. But after the playwright’s death in 1989, a judge rules that productions with female casts would not damage Beckett's legacy, and allowed the play to be performed by an all-female cast at the prestigious Avignon Festival.
Now, Northampton Community College has staged its own all-female production of Beckett’s absurdist play, that works well as it emphasizes the play’s focus on human foibles as opposed to gender. These characters are every man and their experiences could be any persons’ whether male or female in an innovative performance.
For this thought-provoking production, director Chris Egging has given us a stark environment onto which limps Estragon, also known as Gogo and Vladimir, also know as Didi.
Dressed in ragged clothes and bowler hats, the two seem discarded by society and bicker like an old married couple as they wait pointlessly for the arrival of the mysterious Godot. The acting is all superb and keeps the audience glued to the action on stage, despite not much really happening in this bleak universe.
Sarah Thatcher’s Estragon is cranky and focused on the physical as he struggles to remove his boot from his aching foot and pounces on discarded chicken bones. Estragon seems to be hopelessly trapped in time, as he can’t even remember what has happened the day before. 
Torez Mosley’s Vladimir, on the other hand, is more of a philosophizer and even draws some hope from the few leaves that appear on the bare tree that looms in the background.
Daniya Beard plays Pozzo, a person of means who happens upon Estragon and Vladimir and decides to enjoy their company for a while. Beard’s Pozzo is arrogant and cruel to his slave Lucky who he leads on a long rope. Lucky as played by Ciara Purcell, shuffles stiffly as he wordlessly obeys Pozzo’s demands even painfully performing a stilted dance for the trio. His halting obedience is difficult to watch, even for the momentarily outraged Estragon, who quickly slips back to unconcerned selfishness.
When a boy played with passive temerity by Sadie Reese arrives and tells the men Godot is not coming, but will come the next day, they accept the news with barely contained despair. They even contemplate hanging themselves, although they fail even at that, as Estragon’s pants fall down after he tries to use his belt as a noose.
The production is staged in the round in the Lab Theatre creating an intimacy for the audience with the characters.
Due to mature themes, recommended for middle school students and older.
The final performance of “Waiting for Godot” is 7:30 p.m. Nov. 25 in Norman Roberts Lab Theatre, 3835 Green Pond Road, Bethlehem.
Tickets are $5 for general admission. There is no admission charge for NCC students who make a donation of a non-perishable food item to NCC's H.O.P.E. Food Bank.
For information call 484-484-3412, of go to ncctix.org.
PHOTO: Sarah Thatcher as Estragon and Torez Mosley as Vladimir in NCC's "Waiting for Godot"