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The wait is over. Waiting for Godot opens.
Both national and Scottish press have highlighted Waiting for Godot as one of the notable theatre events of the season.
Starring lifelong friends Matthew Kelly and George Costigan, the new production of Samuel Beckett’s masterpiece opens on 25 February before touring to the Liverpool Everyman and Bolton’s Octagon Theatre. Directed by Citizens Theatre artistic director Dominic Hill, the show has already generated widespread media attention.
The Stage highlighted the production as a centrepiece of the Citizens Theatre’s 2025/26 season, quoting Hill as saying the programme represents “everything the Citz stands for – theatre that asks questions, sparks conversation and speaks to the world we live in”.
The Herald focused on Kelly’s long-awaited debut at the venue. Kelly said, beaming. “I am thrilled. I know Glasgow well – my daughter was at university here for five years – so I am very much looking forward to coming back.”
The Herald also captured the warmth between the two leading actors, who first met 58 years ago at drama school in Manchester. “George and I were at college together, we have been friends for 60 years,” Kelly said. “He is a constant in my life.” Speaking about the play itself, he added: “It’s good timing for us because this play is about – well, there are so many interpretations of this play, but in this one, these two guys have known each other for years and years, they love each other and annoy each other and they are really funny.”
Coverage in The Scotsman, in a feature by Joyce McMillan, delves into that decades-long friendship and why this moment feels particularly fitting. “It’s a play about two old men who have known each other for 50 years,” Kelly said during rehearsals, “so it could hardly be more right for us, now that we’re both of a certain age.”
Kelly has also spoken movingly about the play’s contemporary resonance in interviews. “Like so many people right now, Vladimir and Estragon are waiting for better times that never come,” he said. “And yet they still try to keep each other going – they joke and banter and share their problems… the play is often very funny, full of comedy.”
Hill, directing Waiting for Godot for the first time, emphasised the emotional heart of Beckett’s writing. “I think the play is about the love between them,” he said, “love, and kindness, and the way they look after each other, despite everything.” He also noted the production will avoid presenting the work as a museum piece: “There’s no drastic updating; but we are playing it as something that’s happening in the here and now.”
The production has also been widely tipped as a cultural highlight. It has featured in must-see theatre round-ups across a range of publications including The Sunday Post, Scotland on Sunday and The List.
First performed in 1953, Beckett’s play follows Vladimir and Estragon as they wait endlessly for the mysterious Godot, blending absurdist comedy with profound reflections on friendship, ageing and hope. With two celebrated actors bringing their half-century friendship to the stage, and with critical attention building, this Citizens Theatre production is already being positioned as one of the theatrical events of the year.
Waiting for Godot runs at the Citizens Theatre from 20 February to 14 March before touring to co-producers Liverpool Everyman & Playhouse and Octagon Theatre Bolton.
Waiting for Godot
Citizens Theatre - Main Theatre
06 – 14 Mar 2026