On Thursday, July 10, 2025, at 19:30, the Residenztheater in Munich will host a performance of Samuel Beckett's iconic play, Waiting for Godot. Directed by Claudia Bauer and featuring Max Rothbart, Florian von Manteuffel, and Lukas Rüppel among others, the story unfolds along a road in an unspecified location at an indeterminate time as Vladimir and Estragon await the arrival of Godot. Neither character knows who Godot is or what they want from him, nor are they sure if he will ever come.

Their time is filled with conversations that break the silence, games resembling mundane tasks, and absurd disputes followed by reconciliations. Their monotonous wait is disrupted by Pozzo, a domineering man wielding a whip, and his servant Lucky, who performs bizarre monologues and dance routines as commanded. The play has sparked a multitude of interpretations and remains open to individual interpretation, as reflected in Beckett's own admission: he did not know who Godot was or if he existed.

Beckett wrote this modern classic in 1948, a time when the horrors of World War II were still fresh and the Holocaust's aftermath was a societal taboo. The backgrounds of Vladimir and Estragon are left entirely ambiguous: Are they former members of the Resistance? Survivors of a catastrophe? Or do they simply represent humanity, as Estragon suggests, suffering from the loss of memory to evade their guilt? Or do they prefer the emptiness of waiting to the necessity of action?

Claudia Bauer, renowned for her musical and slapstick-infused staging, directs this production. The performance begins with a live camera feed from the actors' dressing room and concludes there as well, creating a playful atmosphere of theatricality. The actors portray their characters as clowns, engaging in humorous quarrels and reconciliations. The performance lasts two hours and fifteen minutes, including a break, and while some may find it overly humorous, it has received a warm reception from audiences.