A much appreciated birthday gift from my son, saw us both at a new production of “Waiting For Godot” at the recently refurbished, Glasgow Citizens’ Theatre. The curtain rose on a bleak, desolate set, a barren landscape with a solitary tree and a car door lying at its base. Gaza flashed on the inner eye; that devastation, resulting from the genocide driven assault by Israeli Forces, has left an indelible mark on civilised consciousness.
The US and Israel had that morning launched an illegal and heinous assault on Iran; the first reported casualties were at a girls’ school in Southern Iran where a reported 150 children died. I paraphrase the words of Tony Benn’s Commons’ speech in 2003, days before the Iraq War; “Do Iranian mothers weep and feel pain when their children are killed?”
As a young man, Beckett, a committed Francophile, joined the French Resistance. It is likely that he lay waiting at times for an onslaught during the German Invasion of France. He will have keenly felt the anguish and distress of an unjust war.
“What are we doing here?” one of the leading duo plaintively cries onstage. Vladimir and Estragon, two old and somewhat befuddled men are the principals of the drama. They spend their time, seeking answers to that vital question. Did the main protagonists in the current conflict exercise similar scrutiny of their situation?
The main characters here are Donald Trump, President of the United States, Chairman for Life of the Peace Board and a convicted felon; a man who zealously covets the Nobel Peace Prize; his accomplice is Benjamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister of Israel and the object of an arrest warrant, issued by the International Court of Justice at the The Hague for war crimes in Gaza.
The Citizens’ audience warmed to Vladimir and Estragon and appreciated their dilemma.
“We are at the end of history and yet life goes on”, says Vladimir (Mathew Kelly) as he contemplates a single leaf on the forlorn tree. There is a lyricism throughout in the language of the seventy year old script. Contrast that with the words of the US Secretary For War , the grotesque Pete ‘With no Mercy’ Hegseth who told the World yesterday , “Iran is toast”.
There is no Endgame here because Trump lacks strategic vision. My good friend, Jude Collins, earlier described the failures in scholarly fashion (https://www.judecollins.com/2026/03/the-president-of-peace-becomes-the-mad-king-of-war/0 a couple of days ago. Those in Maga who elected Trump on a non-involvement platform, are watching the Middle East in disbelief. They sense deeply that their President has ignored both the American Constitution and the norms of International Law. Their next logical step is regime change by impeachment at home.
Beckett in Godot used linguistic form to depict the absurdity of existence and the breakdown of communication.
The US President is frequently nonsensical but without intellectual intent.
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