For New York-based actor John Tillotson, the wait for Godot is over. Two evenings and two matinees each week through Sept. 8, he appears at the Utah Shakespearean Festival as Estragon (Gogo), one of the friends-in-waiting in Samuel Beckett's "Waiting for Godot," on the stage of the Randall L. Jones Theatre in Cedar City.
From the time he was in high school outside Washington, D.C., Tillotson wanted to perform in this quintessential 20th century play."It is the single most important play of the century," he claims, "and possibly the greatest."
Tillotson's opinion is widely shared.
High schools do not customarily produce controversial plays - and "Waiting for Godot" has, indeed, inspired controversy. So Tillotson waited. While he was waiting, he became a professional actor.
In 1972, Tillotson remembers, Dr. Burnett Hobgood, then chair of the theater department at Southern Methodist University, told him that he would one day make a wonderful Estragon in "Waiting for Godot." The college did not produce the play, however, so Tillotson continued to wait.
Several years later, Tillotson notes, he auditioned for Pozzo in alan Schneider's 1980 production. "I didn't get the part," says the actor, "but Alan Schneider, America's greatest interpreter of Beckett, the man who directed the original American production of `Waiting for Godot,' as well as the original production of Edward Albee's `Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf,' told me I should someday play Estragon."
As Tillotson continued to wait for "Godot," he became a member of Actors' Equity Association and performed in regional theaters around the country. "I have to live in New York," he states, "because that's where most theater casting takes place." But most of his work is elsewhere. He performed with Pioneer Theatre Company last spring in George Bernard Shaw's "Saint Joan" and Shakespeare's "The Comedy of Errors."
Most of his work has been in Shakespeare, and he finds it ironic that at one of the best known Shakespearean festivals in the country, he does not act a Shakespearean role. However, his longtime dream of playing Gogo has finally come true.
The Utah Shakespearean Festival had already invited Tom Markus, chair of the theater department at the University of Utah, to direct "Waiting for Godot" for its 1990 season, when Markus saw Tillotson's performance in PTC's "The Comedy of Errors" and asked if the role of Estragon was attractive to him.
"Godot" had arrived; the wait was over.
"It's a great role for an actor," Tillotson smiles. "I get to cry, laugh, shout and talk a lot. My character has emotional life right at his fingertips - very close. He does self-serving things, but then has the chance to show his contrasting good side."
Director Markus promises a "user-friendly" production, and Tillotson revels in the role. "It should be fun," he says, "but it varies from audience to audience. Sometimes it's very moving for them and they have a hard time laughing, and sometimes it's so hilarious they're on their feet."
Vladimir (Didi), Estragon's companion during the wait as outlined by Beckett, is portrayed by Lawrence Lott, an Equity actor based in Los Angeles.
U. Jonathan Toppo and Price Waldman are featured as Pozzo and Lucky, respectively, with young Justin Jayson Wheeler of Cedar City High School as The Boy.
Good seating is available for most festival productions and performances. For ticket information, call the festival box office at 586-7878 between 10 a.m. and 8:30 p.m. Monday through Saturday.