Portrush actor Andrew's heading for the hills in new Ulster Scots version of 'Waiting for Godot'
A Portrush actor is set to take centre ‘stage’ in a new translation of Samuel Beckett’s absurdist play ‘Waiting for Godot’ – in the hills of Ballymena and County Wicklow!
Later this month, Samuel Beckett’s most celebrated – and most performed – work will reinvent itself in Ulster Scots with Portrush actor Andrew Porter playing Vladimir.
Andrew has a host of film, TV and theatre credits to his name including Ch4’s award-winning Trespasses and the hit Netflix series House of Guinness.
In ‘Waakin fur Ettlin fur Godot’ (Walking for Waiting for Godot), lovers of the classic play will be able to experience Beckett’s masterpiece performed in Ulster Scots as the Samuel Beckett Biennale presents two new performed readings, either side of the border – one in the hills around Slemish mountain and the other in County Wicklow.
The new Ulster-Scots translation, by Frank Ferguson of Ulster University, will take place on September 26 at Slemish Mountain and September 27 in the Wicklow Hills.
On both days, ‘Waakin fur Ettlin fur Godot’ begins with the audience catching a bus to a secret location, from where they will walk a gentle kilometre to the spectacular rural scene of the performance, where the actors will already be waiting for them around Antony Gormley’s Tree for Waiting for Godot sculpture.
On September 26, audiences will meet at Gracehill Old School, Ballymena, which Beckett’s mother, May, attended and from which she was expelled for talking to a boy over a fence!
Seán Doran, Director of the Samuel Beckett Biennale, said: “This will be an unmissable new experience for lovers of Waitng for Godot. Almost thirty years afer the Ulster Scots language was formally recognised by the Good Friday Agreement alongside the Irish language, we are pleased to be crossing the border with Ettlin fur Godot.
"In Ulster Scots, the play becomes an earthier, more visceral and even more moving experience, as two Northern Ireland actors meet two Republic of Ireland actors. Many words are distantly familiar and, when experienced outdoors in the silence of deep countryside, the play gains a new currency.”
Tickets: £22 from Eventbrite or www.artsoverborders.com