Godot – and Beckett – have been camping out in my soul ever since I first read Godot as a teenager. I’ve seen the play a few times – but somehow the performances – or the “realizations” – have never been great. I saw a Godot in England a long time ago – with Robin Williams as Vladimir, and it seemed like perfect casting somehow – but even that was only just OK. It may be that Beckett plays are just very hard to do. Very hard to find or make or conjure.
I’m not sure what it is that’s so deeply appealing to me, so gripping – but something about the diligent and strange and fruitless and yet still hopeful search for meaning and purpose in Beckett’s work just speaks to me. A magic combination of the bleak and the comic – and even though it’s all perfectly dark, there’s some interesting smile lingering in Beckett’s world – as though he’s just pulling your leg. Because that’s all anything does – pull your leg.
I’ve been messing around with animation for a little while, mostly using the animation software Iclone. At first I was just using it as a means to pitch story ideas to a friend, but then I started wondered if animation and Iclone could be used as a possible storytelling tool (for me).
So here’s an attempt at storytelling with Iclone – and a way for me to camp out in Beckett’s soul. My thanks to composer Greg Wilder for letting me use his lovely music.
You Rule Sleeves!