Joseph Bussey and Daniel Johnson rehearse. Photo submitted.

“Waiting for Godot,” directed by Kathleen McLennan, made its debut in the Burtness Lab Theatre Tuesday night. A two-and-a-half-hour performance on two men waiting made the audience question what the point was from start to finish, while also offering laughs and great performances by the actors.

“It’s way more funny as a play,” UND freshmen Amber Januszewski said of seeing the live performance. “I read it for a class so it was cool to actually see it.”

Outstanding performances were given by the actors, clearly showing that opening night jitters had no effect on them. Instead, they gave a dated play new life by bringing their own charisma and energy to the stage.

“Waiting for Godot,” first made its debut in 1953, yet the actors got laughs out of a younger crowd made up of mostly college students.

The crowd contained a good number of students who came as part of a class assignment, but still seemed to enjoy the performance, laughing at the countless jokes and innuendos, while also getting a new experience at UND.

The small space in the basement of the Burtness was almost intimate in its low ceiling and dim lighting. This aided the audience to be drawn into the performance. Having the stage on the same level as the crowd made it so you were in on the action and almost in the scene with the performers.

The stage featured a gray slab of plastic that resembled a street, a lone tree on the right side of the stage and a bench to the left. However the few and simple props was made up for by the big performances by the five actors.

Joseph Bussey and Daniel Johnson gave fantastic performances as the main characters; Estagon (Gogo) and Vladimir (Deedee). They had real chemistry on the stage playing life-long friends that balanced each other out. Estagon’s tired and weary persona was matched by Vladimir’s restlessness on the stage. Bussey and Johnson were further challenged by having to play older characters, however they hobbled and shuffled across the stage without a hitch.

Zach Lee, playing Pozzo, made the unlikeable and conceited character an added dose of laughter to the audience. He dashes onto the stage with his “slave” Lucky in tow, played by Nick McConnell. This pair brought more energy and life to the performance, while also creating more questions from the audience as to the point of it all.

Essentially, “Waiting for Godot” is a play about nothing but keeps the audience focused and entertained from start to finish. It asks more questions than it answers and leaves the audience guessing and musing about it afterwards.

In the end you’re left to come up with your own interpretation of the play as it portrays that certainty is only an illusion. Despite its dark humor,at one point the characters contemplate hanging themselves from the tree; the characters create laughs and persevere through it. Is it a comedy, a tragedy, or both? That’s left for you to decide.

“It was thought provoking,” UND senior Jory Miller said. “The UND theatre did a great job and really made you think.”

Ashley Carlson is a staff writer for The Dakota Student. She can be reached at [email protected].