WILHELMSHAVEN, Germany, Feb. 4 (UPI) -- Gerhard Hess, manager of the Wilhelmshaven Theater in Germany, says he has been barred from using women in his staging of Samuel Beckett's "Waiting for Godot."
Hess said he was ordered by the Irish playwright's German publisher, S. Fischer Verlag, to cast men rather than women in the roles of Estragon and Lucky in Beckett's absurdist comedy. Director Philip Kochheim had planned to have men play the other roles of Vladimir and Pozzo as usual.
Hess noted that the publisher said it was taking action because Beckett, who died in 1989, had specifically stated a wish that women would never perform in "Waiting for Godot," generally considered his masterpiece.
"This manner of defending the Holy Grail is a bad joke," said Hess, adding that nothing could be done about the publisher's opposition to female casting because Beckett's German copyright doesn't expire until 2059, 70 years after his death.
