Accessible Godot festival offers dialogue with plenty to think about

And yet it’s hard not to consider the symbolism of Beckett having been born on Good Friday, the lowest moment in the Christian calendar with the death of Jesus.

Beckett’s work may seem gloomy – the bleak settings, the sense of isolation, the repetitions, the focus on failure – and yet despite the content, his writing uplifts.

He casts a light on the positive and profound human qualities that can endure through the worst moments of a life.

Out of winter comes spring, and out of death comes resurrection.

Holy Week seems a very appropriate time to engage with the play and its major themes, not least because Beckett references The Crucifixion a number of times in it.

And the symbolism of Good Friday also extends into politics. That the signing of the Good Friday Agreement (or Belfast Agreement) fell on that day may not have been deliberate, but there was still an implied message of hope, that out of darkness would come light.

Oh My Godot!, which takes place in Enniskillen across two weekends (April 12/13, and 18/19, supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund), is a programme of events curated from the inspiration of a single work, Beckett’s play, ‘Waiting for Godot’.

The programme engages with the artistic, the political and the social.

Beckett wrote the play between October 1948 and January 1949, at a time when the world was still recovering from the Second World War.

The challenges of that time have a powerful resonance in today’s world; the play’s themes, such as suffering, migration, memory, trauma, and ultimately the necessity for hope, are central to our own lives, both individually and globally.

When the Second World War ended, the vital emphasis on recovery engendered a powerful cultural and collective response within Europe.

For example, both the Avignon and Edinburgh Festivals were founded in 1947, the latter with an aim to 'provide a platform for the flowering of the human spirit’, by bringing people and artists together from around the world.

This ‘bringing together’ has inspired the programming for Oh My Godot!

For example, just as the Good Friday Agreement brought together politicians from Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland and the United Kingdom, so one of the discussions in the Themed Local Conversations brings together two writers from Northern Ireland, one from the Republic and one from the United Kingdom (Jan Carson, Eoin McNamee, Jane Clarke and Alex Clark) to consider what role the arts has played and should play in a post-conflict society.

Can the international arts scene operate as a release value or as a means to address trauma or as a space to encourage community-building?

And are there examples elsewhere in the world that demonstrate the efficacy of the arts playing a central role in a society recovering from war and its attendant memories?

This will be an annual discussion, but each year the artists involved will come from a different artform, bringing their experiences and practice into an ongoing debate.

One of the perils when emerging from conflict is that it becomes difficult to look beyond your own situation.

Recovery becomes as all-consuming as survival once did.

Have you enough emotional energy and compassion to engage with what is happening elsewhere in the world?

But to look outwards also offers the possibility of seeing your own situation with fresh eyes and new perspectives.

In the past few years, we have watched with horror as events unfolded in Ukraine and Gaza.

What should we expect, or demand, of ourselves at such times?

And what do those living in the midst of war and suffering ask of the world?

Another of the themed conversations in the programme takes a quote from Waiting For Godot, in which Vladimir asks, “Was I sleeping, while the other suffered? Am I sleeping now? Tomorrow, when I wake, or think I do, what shall I say of today?” as the starting point for a discussion between speakers and audience.

The Palestinian PhD researcher into international law, Bana Abu Zuluf, and the Ukrainian performer and curator, Olesya Zdorovetska, talk about the support their respective countries receive; what, to their mind, should happen in the weeks and months ahead; and the risks and dangers that may come with a Trump presidency as shifts occur in the current international order?

The nationalities of the major players in the Good Friday Agreement are also reflected in the casts of the two Walking for Waiting for Godot performed readings.

During the first weekend, two actors from Northern Ireland will meet two from the Republic, meeting in the landscape surrounding the tree created by the artist, Antony Gormley, and in the second weekend two actors from the united Kingdom will meet two new actors from the Republic.

For a play that engages with a post-conflict world, Enniskillen and its landscape feels a powerfully resonant place in which to perform it each year.

All of the Oh My Godot! programme is free. It’s a wonderful opportunity to take a chance and experience a Beckett-related event for the first time.

But no specific knowledge of Beckett or the play is necessary – the programme simply radiates out into themes that are genuinely accessible.

For instance, the musician and composer Daniel Figgis is in conversation talking about his life as a boy actor; amongst his many roles, he played the Boy in Waiting for Godot in 1969 at the Abbey Theatre with Peter O’Toole and Donal McCann.

Earlier that decade, O’Toole had starred in ‘Lawrence of Arabia’, and in the process had become a world star.

Another event focuses on the King James Bible, which is referenced repeatedly in Godot.

It had a profound influence on Beckett; the book often rested on his bedside table.

What is it about the language of the King James Bible that has allowed it to retain such a place in literature and culture?

Writer and editor Robert McCrum and poet Malika Booker will discuss the influence it has had on their lives.

At the heart of Oh My Godot! is a dialogue between participants and audiences.

It’s about community, about subjects and themes that mattered at the time of the signing of the Good Friday Agreement, and still matter today.

The arts can play a crucial and enriching role in encouraging voices to speak up and be heard.