Sir Peter Hall's Waiting for Godot Coming to West End 10/3

Sir Peter Hall, who directed the legendary original English language premiere of Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot at the Arts Theatre in 1955, will have his 50th anniversary production of the play return to the West End a year late. The revival will open at the New Ambassadors Theatre on October 9 following previews from October 3.

The cast will be led by Alan Dobie as Estragon and James Laurenson as Vladimir, the two tramps who pass their time waiting for the title character. Terence Rigby will play Pozzo, and Richard Dormer will play Pozzo's slave Lucky.

Plans to transfer this production from the Peter Hall Company's season at Bath Theatre Royal, where it premiered last year as part of his annual residency there, were scuttled by the rights being held by the Barbican Centre. The Barbican staged a Beckett retrospective earlier this year, which included a different production of Waiting for Godot from the Gate Theatre, Dublin.

In an article published in The Guardian to coincide with the 50th anniversary last year, Sir Peter wrote: "I directed the English world premiere of this great play exactly 50 years ago and I was there on that tumultuous first night. I was 24 years old and I suspect landed the play because no one else would do it. It had been turned down by most of the acting profession, including Gielgud, Richardson and Guinness. And it was rejected by directors without number. I still wake up wondering what would have become of my life if I had turned it down. It changed everything."

Hall also wrote that he regrets that his production was prevented from being seen in London at that time. "Controversy still haunts Beckett and Godot. It saddens me greatly that both the Royal Court Theatre and my own company are, from the beginning of September, prevented by the Barbican Centre and the Gate Theatre, Dublin, from giving performances of any plays by Beckett in London in the foreseeable future. At a time when Sam should be universally celebrated as his centenary approaches, they have all the rights in the plays for their own big Beckett centenary festival and insist on this moratorium. So no one else may celebrate Sam's life and work in London... Sam would have found such a situation very whimsical."

Waiting for Godot will play a limited seven-week season in the West End.