Sheep stage gate theatre to keep Godot waiting

WHAT do you get when you stop a Samuel Beckett tour bus with a flock of sheep? More ticks than kicks.

Members of the Gate Theatre, on the road with Waiting For Godot, were forced to improvise yesterday when a flock of sheep kept them waiting.

Ewe won’t believe it, but the waiting was the result of the ‘gate’ being left open.

The dramatic irony of the situation might have caused even the late Mr Beckett to crack a smile, but then again, probably not from a man who bleakly thrived on lines like, “the sun shone having no alternative on the nothing new”.

The Gate production of Godot — which opens with two men, Vladimir and Estragon, waiting on a lonely country road for an appointment with Godot — was stopped in its tracks while en route to Mullingar.

Cast members, including Alan Stanford, Stephen Brennan, Barry McGovern and Johnny Murphy, were held up by the roaming groundlings.

The tour bus was stopped for a short time as the troupe made their way from Athlone to Mullingar.

The tour, which performs for one night only in 40 venues in all 32 counties, kicked off last month in Enniscorthy to mark the theatre’s 80th anniversary celebrations and the 20th anniversary of this production.

It finishes up in Enniskillen, where a young Beckett attended school. A limited number of seat remain in the Strule Arts Centre in Omagh and the Millennium Forum in Derry.