yangtse incident : the story of h.m.s. amethyst ( 1957 ) is a british war film that tells the story of the british frigate hms amethyst caught up in the chinese civil war .

it was based upon the book written by lawrence earl .

the film was known in the us by the alternative titles battle hell , escape of the amethyst , their greatest glory and yangtze incident .

non-english language titles include the direct german translation of yangtse-zwischenfall , and commando sur le yang-tse in france .

in belgium it was known as feu sur le yangtse ( french ) and vuur op de yangtse ( flemish/dutch ) , both meaning " fire on the yangtse " .

the film was entered into the 1957 cannes film festival .

yangtse incident – the story of h . m . s . amethyst – variety
yangtse incident : the story of h . m . s . amethyst ( 1957 )
yangtse incident the story of h . m . s . amethyst ( 1957 ) | bfi
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yangtse incident : the story of h . m . s . amethyst ( 1957 ) directed by michael anderson • reviews , film + cast • letterboxd
h . m . s . consort was ordered to the rescue of amethyst .
yangtse incident the story of h . m . s . amethyst / a wilcox - neagle production ; screenplay by eric ambler ; produced by herbert wilcox ; directed by michael anderson .
the full and true story of the yangtze incident has never been told but it is a story that has to be told , it is not a story about one ship the h . m . s . amethyst , and its amazing escape from the yangtze river , its not a story about four british royal navy ships , as in fact there were five ships involved , h . m . s . consort , h . m . a . s . shoalhaven , h . m . s . amethyst , h . m . s . london and h . m . s . blackswan .
the story of the amethyst is indeed glorious but please also let the full true story be known .
there is the book “the yangtze incident , by lawrence earl , published 1952” only four years after the incident . mr earl’s story is more or less a story about one of the ships involved in the yangtze incident ( h . m . s . amethyst ) .
there you have the damage report of h . m . s . consort .
yangtse incident [ videorecording ] : the story of h . m . s . amethyst / a wilcox - neagle production ; screenplay by eric ambler ; produced by herbert wilcox ; directed by michael anderson . – national library
true story of how hms amethyst escaped from the chinese revolution in 1949 . the story is fascinating but the film far too long .
the glorious story of h . m . s . amethyst , the official report produced by the navy league in co - operation with the admiralty . entry concerning hms concord ;
the photographs below were taken at hung joa cemetery in shanghai at the time of the ceremonial burial of ten ratings from h . m . s . consort , twelve from h . m . s . london , one from h . m . s . amethyst , and a chinese , yangtze river , ships pilot .
technical adviser who commanded h . m . s . amethyst during much of the period of the story , and whose exceptional help is gratefully acknowledged ( as commander j . s . kerans d . s . o . r . n . )
when h . m . s . consort , on the 20 th april 1949 tied up alongside of h . m . s . london , the london was fully operational and as such was able to transmit to the admiralty reports on consorts damage and condition . h . m . s . london’s ships company with consort along side were getting a gruesome insight into the damage and carnage flowing from a rescue attempt of amethyst , what must have been the mixed emotions and thoughts of h . m . s . london’s ships company on viewing that .
captain peter grenville lyon cazalet . d . s . o . , d . s . c . , royal navy , h . m . s london
when commander kearn’s wrote the forward to lawrence earl’s book yangtze incident within the foreword the third paragraph begins , “this story deals only with h . m . s . amethyst , ” that is fair comment by kearn’s which i accept as such believing that he read the material he was writing a foreword too or for .
the true story of one of the most daring actions in modern royal navy history .
in 1949 , during the chinese civil war , british warship h . m . s . amethyst sails up the yangtse river but on the return trip finds its way blocked by a barrage fire from the communist chinese shore batteries .
photograph of british sloop hms magpie in the atlantic , the sister ship of amethyst . magpie stood in for the moving shots of hms amethyst in the film yangtse incident in 1957 , based on the actual events .
within the house of commons on the 26 th april 1949 prime minister , mr clement attlee , two days after the five ships companies from h . m . s . consort , amethyst , london , black swan and h . m . a . s . shoalhaven , among others were burying some of the dead from the yangtze incident , at hung joa cemetery in shanghai made a statement concerning the yangtze incident .
the tributes above were sent to or for simon of hms amethyst , who was awarded the dickin medal in 1949 for gallantry under enemy fire . read simon ' s story for the account of the yangtse incident itself and how he came to receive his ' animal vc ' .
a news cutting from 1949 reporting h . m . s . consorts arrival at hong kong the terms within the news cutting are noteworthy .
neither the book nor the film comes anywhere near to the truth of the overall yangtze incident as it was , and how the incident came about , the yangtze incident is a story that has yet to be told , it’s a frightening story that has been covered up by government deceit and deception that is an on going saga to this day .
our featured feline at the head of the page is simon of hms amethyst . he remains the only cat ever to have been awarded the dickin medal for gallantry under enemy fire , in what became known as the ' yangtse incident ' ( 1949 ) . read simon ' s story .
in pointing out these matters i will attempt to provide an even clearer picture of h . m . s . consorts involvement in the yangtze incident , soon by way of a documentary it will be made even clearer by re - enactment , but in the meantime read into what it was like on board h . m . s . consort .
the yangtze river and china - this map was prepared for the
wahnsein incident
that took place just 30 years before . the story of the amethyst played out between nanking and shanghai
the hopes of those onboard in respect to being rescued were again raised on learning that the county class cruiser , h . m . s . london would be coming to amethysts rescue . on the morning of 21 st april 1949 the date set for the invasion and invading forces of the c . c . p in crossing the yangtze in force on the upper reaches of the yangtze at points that were above and below where the amethyst was aground h . m . s . london accompanied by h . m . s . black swan , were ordered up river to rescue the amethyst .
note : this is a companion page to our story of simon , of hms amethyst who was awarded the dickin medal for gallantry under enemy fire in 1949 . you should read the main story for the account of the yangtze incident itself and how simon came to receive his ' animal vc ' .
this telegram was to prevent an international incident as cold war tensions were high and it removed any official mention of the concord’s involvement in the yangtze incident .
in may of 1949 h . m . s . consort was the last royal navy ship to be stationed at nanking she relieved h . m . c . s . crescent , our listening post’s stationed there for the purpose of transmissions , from that station came learning of american war equipment being landed from ships at formosa , the connotations of a nationalist second front with u . s . a . involvement or support .
much has been written about that termed the yangtze incident of 1949 . within the house of commons there exists columns of hansard papers relative to the incident .
because of earl’s book and subsequent film yangtze incident that , in reality was about one ship the amethyst this has distorted the nation’s view of the incident and royal navy history . on the web , there is a royal navy profile site ; in the history section there is no mention of the yangtze incident or the ships involved .
on the 21 st april 1949 h . m . s . london , a county class cruiser a ship with a seventeen feet draught , in the company of h . m . s . black swan was ordered up the yangtze to attempt the rescue of amethyst as stated previously they got to within twenty miles of amethyst , before having to retire . both of those ships were ordered into a war zone on a date known to be the invasion date of chinas civil war .
in producing the photographs of h . m . s . consort this allows an insight to some extent of what it must have been like to have been on board h . m . s . consort during one hundred minutes of the ships life span of ten years on the far east station , one hundred minutes from the time of receiving the signal from the amethyst , in the first instance ( under heavy fire . am aground . large number of casualties ) .
the letter was acknowledged by dr lewis moonie , m . p . , of the m . o . d . and dated 14 th november 2000 .
meanwhile , the cruiser h . m . s .
london
( captain cazalet ) , wearing the flag of flag officer second in command , was also proceeding up the yangtse at best speed . the three ships
london ,
black swan ,
and
consort
met at kiang yin
the story of h . m . s . amethyst , the frigate which became famous for its exploits on the yangtse in 1949 . while on a legitimate , peaceful mission on the yangtse river , the amethyst is fired upon by chinese forces , with great loss of life , and comes to a standstill in a mudbank . for some weeks she remains there , unable to move for fear of destruction , while the navy negotiates with the chinese colonel ping , who wants the british government to claim that the amethyst illegally opened fire first . finally , the amethyst makes a break for freedom , under cover of darkness , hoping to be able to escape the shelling from the communist forces that line the river for many miles in both directions .
surgeon lieutenant john michael alderton , m . b . , b . s . , royal navy .
for gallantry , skill and determination while in command of hms amethyst in the planning and execution of her daring passage down the yangtse river when she escaped from chinese military forces .
in conformity with the decision to remain at nanking , his majesty ' s ships had been relieving one another at that port at regular intervals for some months past . on this occasion the object of the passage of h . m . s .
amethyst
was to relieve h . m . s .
consort
at nanking . opposing chinese forces had been massed along the banks of the yangtse for a considerable time and there were repeated rumours for some weeks that the communists were about to cross the river . h . m . s .
consort
was already overdue for relief , but this relief was postponed in view of a communist ultimatum which was due to expire on april 12 and which might have been followed by the crossing of the yangtse . on april 12 his majesty ' s ambassador learned that the ultimatum had been extended to april 15 . the relief had therefore still to be postponed . only on april 18 was it learned that the final expiry of the ultimatum might lead to the crossing of the yangtse by the communist forces on april 21 . the necessity for relieving h . m . s .
consort
as early as possible remained . she was running short of supplies after a long stay at nanking and in any case a frigate was considered more suitable than a destroyer to be stationed at that port .
i will at this point briefly summarise the losses and damage which resulted . the casualties were : h . m . s .
london ,
13 killed , 15 wounded ; h . m . s .
consort ,
10 killed , 4 seriously wounded , h . m . s .
amethyst ,
19 killed , 27 wounded ; h . m . s .
black swan ,
7 wounded . in addition , 12 ratings are still missing . of the damage to the ships , the
london
suffered the most severely , having been holed repeatedly in her hull and upper works . the damage to the
consort
and the
black swan
was less serious .
london
and the
black swan
have already completed their emergency repairs . the
amethyst
suffered severe damage but was repaired by the efforts of her own crew to be capable of a speed of seventeen knots .
story [ based on the book by lawrence earl and an idea by associate producer franklin gollings ] is of the amethyst , which , battered though not beaten , broke the chinese communist blockade and rejoined the british fleet . the amethyst is shown sailing up the yangtse , headed for nanking on a lawful mission delivering supplies to the british [ … ]
signals were sent to the admiralty and the shoalhaven was stood down and h . m . s . amethyst was thereafter selected to take the shoalhaven’s place , and recalled from sea to do so . in the book , yangtze incident by lawrence earl , there is a reference to h . m . s . amethyst beginning her journey up the yangtze river at 9 a . m . , on the 20 th april 1949 and doing so with full clearance from the then government of china . that statement is then followed by a further statement to the effect “ even to - day it is not clear why the amethyst was fired upon . then you have the question by the author , “was the “first salvo” a deliberate , sneering affront to britain and the royal navy ? ”
h . m . s . consort in reaching amethyst made three valiant efforts to take amethyst in tow . to this day the overall valour and seamanship that went into those three efforts has never been fully recognised . as a result of the damage and casualties that was inflicted upon h . m . s . consort , she had to retire from the action . ten of her ships company were dead and a great many wounded for some of the wounded their naval careers ended . that night 20 th april 1949 h . m . s . consort tied up alongside of h . m . s . london , while the some of the wounded were being transferred on to the london for medical attention engineers from the london were assisting in repairs to the consort that would provide passage to shanghai . when it became known that the london and black swan were going to attempt rescuing the amethyst , almost to a man consorts ships company those not wounded were volunteering to take part in the rescue their request were refused as it was necessary to get the ship to shanghai .
when the yangtze incident occurred on the 20 th of april 1949 involving h . m . s . amethyst and your ship consort , shock waves reached and rocked london , then on the 23 rd of april a transmission from shanghai , at a time when arrangement’s were being put in place for the ceremonial burial there , the significance of what was found on board h . m . s . consort that day sent shock waves through out the admiralty and the diplomatic core in london , an un - exploded shell was found on top of h . m . s . consorts number one boiler , great care had to be taken in removing the shell , on inspection it was found to be of u . s . a . origin and unstable . the shell had penetrated the ships hull and came to land on top of the number one boiler , had it exploded in coming into contact with the boiler that would have resulted in consort sinking with a broken back , on deliberation of the location where that shell was found and up until the time of it being found h . m . s . consort was the equivalent of a mine primed and ready to explode . to my astonishment , and this lives and remains with me to this day , in the damage report for h . m . s . consort prepared for the admiralty and sent to london the reported finding of the shell on the number one boiler was omitted . ”
opening credits prologue : the story of h . m . s . amethyst is true and this dramatic reconstruction of it was shot with all possible accuracy in and aboard amethyst herself . the producers ' apologies are due , however , to the officers and ships ' companies , the chinese interpreter and many others whose parts in the original action have not been portrayed . these omissions have been dictated solely by the limitations of screen time . to the admiralty , the war office and the air ministry , to commanders - in - chief , officers and ratings of h . m . ships and other naval establishments who have contributed so much to the making of this film , the producers tender their sincere thanks .
the story of the so - called yangtse incident and the saga of hms amethyst has been told and retold in the press and over the radio of the world , but i shall attempt to give a more personal account as it affected my wife and myself ; and it affected us very closely , for bill skinner , the late commanding officer and his wife , monica , were very dear friends of ours , and of course we knew the other officers .
consort was ordered to the rescue of amethyst , h . m . s . consort stationed at nanking was stationed there as guard ship to the british embassy and nationals out there , there were no other warships at nanking therefore by ordering consort to the assistance of amethyst the british embassy , ambassador his staff and british nationals were left unprotected .
the first photo is the deceptive version of the yangtze incident the propaganda version helping to delude and hide the truth , the second photo exposes the elusion created by the film in matters appertaining to the yangtze incident .
dont know if its been published on here before ? anorak news » rip jack french d . s . m : remembering hms amethyst not too long ago rip .
with consort enroot great hopes were being placed on her ability to elevate amethysts problems and rescue the ship from its existing situation . h . m . s . consort with its motto loyal and steadfast was not about to let what must have been the hopes of those on amethyst down .
, john longden , basil longden , basil radford , george merritt , j . h . roberts , jerry verno , h . f . maltby , pamela carme , torin thatcher , frederick piper
m - 55 quad 50s , 44th artillery , 108th artillery grp . at khe sanh
there was an authority that could have and should have been contacted whether by right or in courtesy to ensure safe passage , because of those wrongful acts attempts by the means of deceit and deception have been the order of the day to cover up the true story of the yangtze incident .
now in this computer age with all the search engines that are available , you only have to type in yangtze incident , or britain’s small wars , and there you have a few pages where some individual is more or less reiterating what has already been stated and some have gone to the extent of producing what they would have as a photographic story of the yangtze incident .
october 13 , 1949 : hms amethyst passing through suez canal en route home following the yangtze incident . ( photo courtesy of robert w . green ,
ono of the topics of conversation among us was the news item of january 1991 the desecration of the yangtze incident graves at hung joa , cemetery , shanghai .
the communist people’s liberation army led by mao tse tung and the nationalist kuomintang are at each other’s throats on the banks of the river yangtze during china’s war of liberation .
in 1949 a chinese frigate sailed up the thames but we saw the blighters off . but that ' s another story . this film is about the british frigate that sailed up the yangtze and was fired upon by treacherous chinese communists . after a prologue showing the british soldiers going about their peaceful business , the film divides into three parts . first , the attack , the captain seriously injured and the h . m . s . amethyst damaged and grounded ; second , richard todd taking command of the ship and the negotiations with the people ' s revolutionary army ; finally , the ship sneaks off , dodges assaults and reaches the safety of the ocean . ( yes , i ' ve given the story away , but the film is based on a historical event and much of the…
well that particular photograph depicts a scene from the yangtze incident film ; it depicts and portrays the young gunnery officer , the then lieutenant hett , standing in front of the single barrelled boffer , manned and in the stood too position , behind the rating to the right and rear of the gun you can see the top part of the ships funnel , so what this tells you is that you are looking at a photograph of h . m . s . amethyst port side on .
returning to the yangtze incident and in particular to clement attlee’s , statement for a moment . in that statement there is no mention of who gave the order that sent the amethyst on its journey up the yangtze .
to day in this present time questions are being asked as to the legality of committing british service personnel to war in iraq , this at a time when the very large question mark hangs over the yangtze incident . this short story will provide an insight into the truth of the yangtze incident , that fifty - three years of british government deceit and deception has covered up .
h . m . s . consort , a “c” class destroyer built on the river clyde , and belonging to the british royal navy , was guard ship to and for the british embassy at nanking on the yangtze river she had been there for some time and her relief was long over due and her stores were depleted . the relief ship was h . m . a . s . shoalhaven , which was at shanghai and should have relieved the consort on 16 th april 1949 the relief did not take place . the shoalhaven was stood down . you are not told that in the book or film about the yangtze incident .
also within my knowledge was the fact that in march of 1999 h . m . s . boxer visited china and during that visit admiral sir michael boyce in the company of a chinese admiral laid a wreath on the waters of the yangtze in memory those who died in the yangtze incident . a very noble gesture , but on learning of the gesture , in my mine i questioned it because only those killed on board the amethyst were committed to the waters of the yangtze and it was people from the amethyst who provided the news supportive of the defamatory allegations that the graves of those buried in hung joa
much has already been written concerning h . m . s . amethyst and her detention by the communists ' people ' s liberation army in the yangtse kiang , not only in the press but in official documents ; a detailed account would now be redundant . political considerations debar certain details and , in addition , publication of other matter might be prejudicial to the safety of certain people still in communist - occupied china . it is intended to attempt , in the following paragraphs , to try and elaborate on some of the less publicized points and bring out certain salutary lessons learnt . there will , therefore , be no co - ordinated and co - related
story
in the strict sense .
the necessary equipment and expertise for repairing h . m . s . consort had to be shipped out from britain to singapore , as the damage inflicted upon the ship was to such an extent , the ship would never have made the journey to britain for the necessary repairs required .
i can relate to three instances that occurred on board h . m . s . consort where valour occurred that was well above and beyond the call of duty , but by the fact that selection for awards was via the hat those three recommendations were not pulled from the hat .
when h . m . s .
amethyst
was fired upon by communist forces , his majesty ' s ambassador instructed his majesty ' s consular officer in charge at peking to communicate to the highest competent chinese communist authority , by whatever means possible , a message informing them of this and seeking the issue of immediate instructions by them to their military commanders along the yangtse to desist from such firing . a subsequent message emphasised the urgent need of medical attention of the casualties and reiterated the request for instructions to prevent further firing upon these ships of the royal navy engaged in peaceful and humanitarian tasks . the local communist authorities , however , refused to accept the consul ' s letters .
by the very fact that i have mentioned h . m . a . s . shoalhaven , this will have some in high office cringing , good , as it may well be constructive to the present day government and to the admiralty whilst being destructive to the deceit and deception that has been allowed to exist for the past fifty odd years relative to the yangtze incident .
thus early on tuesday , april 19 , the frigate h . m . s .
amethyst
( lieutenant - commander skinner ) sailed from shanghai for nanking , wearing the white ensign and the union jack and with the union jack painted on her hull . when
amethyst
reached a point on the yangtse river some sixty miles from nanking , at about nine o ' clock , chinese time , in the morning of the 20th , she came under heavy fire from batteries on the north bank , suffered considerable damage and casualties and eventually grounded on rose island
this is a short book relating to an incident that occurred on the yangtze river of china , 20 th , 21 st april 1949 where four royal navy ships were by order sent on suicide missions . on these ships h . m . s . amethyst , consort , london and black swan , servicemen serving on board three of the ships were killed , on all four of the ships servicemen were wounded , this happened at a time when great britain was at peace , but it was an incident that took us to the brink of a third world war .
the signature of the commander in chief on that documents dated 22 nd december 1945 some eight months from the time of the incident was indeed an order . it’s an order of the day that ties him into the deceit and deception of what went on and into the yangtze incident , and that is established by the terms within the second paragraph of his order of the day in relating to amethyst , and the action taken by consort .
i have briefly related to the fact that consort while along side of h . m . s . london received some assistance in repairing damage that was inflicted during her attempts at rescuing the amethyst , repairs that were essential in order to provide safe passage to shanghai , also mentioned is the fact that some from consort’s ships company who had been wounded were transferred to the london for medical attention . lets now pick up the story from there and in so doing i am doing so with a vengeance for several reasons that will become clear .
story [ based on the book by lawrence earl and an idea by associate producer franklin gollings ] is of the amethyst , which , battered though not beaten , broke the chinese communist blockade and rejoined the british fleet . the amethyst is shown sailing up the yangtse , headed for nanking on a lawful mission delivering supplies to the british embassy . suddenly , without warning , the red shore batteries open fire and the frigate , after a heavy engagement , is grounded in the mud .
on page 32 of earl’s book yangtze incident , he introduces lieutenant - commander j . s . kearns , into that book in the fashion “one of several involved in the relaying of that first message from amethyst to the ambassador was the embassy’s assistant naval attaché , john simon kearns . his rank was that of lieutenant commander . at the time he had no idea how vitally important the amethyst affair would become to him . ”
since , april of 1949 the incident has taken on the term yangtze incident , helped along by a book publication and film by that title , the film production , yangtze incident has been described as an epic production , and every so often television viewers are subjected to a re - run , of that alleged epic film .
below is a photograph taken of h . m . s . amethyst when she arrived at hong kong after the ships escape from the yangtze river , in this photograph it can be seen that the ship was shot up and the scars are visible . this photograph shows the starboard side of the ship and i have encircled the boffer gun sponson area in the centre of the photograph . to the left of the photo you can see the ships - funnel .
we ' re grateful to elaine fowler for telling us about this cast - iron doorstop that she came across . although it isn ' t a great likeness of simon , the base clearly says ' hero of h . m . s . amethyst ' . we know nothing about it , except that elaine says it ' s ' quite large and very , very heavy ' , so we think perhaps it was produced at the time of simon ' s return to england in 1949 , after the yangtze incident . does anyone know anything about this remarkable object ?
i have just read the true story of hms concord by william leitch rn ( hms consort ) and the true story it played in escorting hms amethyst . my father served on hms concord at the time of the incident , he was a radar operator . his name was r . c . r catt jx760425 . what i have just read is the story he told me time and time over again . although didn ' t know about the ships log . when the yangtze incident film was on tv he always watched it but got so cross every time at the end , as he always said that ' s not what happened they have got it wrong . do you think they may posthumously award a medal to the sailors that were aboard the concord ? if so i would like to accept it on his behalf . christine giles
when that happened the amethyst was selected and ordered to take the shoal havens place as we now know , we also now know according to attlee , and his statement made to the house of commons , that at the time of the incident on the yangtze river , h . m . s . amethyst was going about her lawful occasion . that being the case , by what we also know now , from december of 1948 all british war ships making passage on the yangtze would during passage be stood too , in readiness to respond to artillery fire from communist forces on the north of the river .
in the disturbed conditions which have prevailed in recent months , warships of various powers have been at shanghai and nanking so that in the event of a breakdown of law and order as the result of hostilities they would be able to assist in the evacuation of their nationals . when the chinese government decided to move to canton , it is true that a warning was issued about warships in the yangtse . nevertheless it is a fact that since that time the movements of our warships in the yangtse have taken place with the full knowledge and consent of the national government of china . i want to make the point , therefore , that , when the incident took place to which i am about to refer , h . m . s .
amethyst
was proceeding on her lawful occasions , and that there was no other properly constituted authority to whom his majesty ' s government were under an obligation to notify her movements even had they been in a position to do so .
h . m . s . consort is seen here coming into shanghai . wounded rating being assisted from the ship , and the dead being carried past a guard of sailors and u . s marines . this was at a time when the ship was the equivalent of an un - exploded mine with an un - exploded shell of u . s . a . origin lying on top of the number one boiler . ( picture on next page . )
earl’s book yangtze incident at page fourteen . quote * even to - day it is not clear why amethyst was fired upon . was the first salvo a deliberate , sneering affront to britain and the royal navy ?
there is no explanation as to why the soviet union exempted from the decision to remain at nanking there is no mention of the fact there were consultations between the british and australian powers represented there in nanking that brought about the decision to have the australian war ship h . m . a . s . shoalhaven stood down from the duty of relieving h . m . s . consort . in having the shoal haven stood down the australian powers were exempting them from the lunacy of sending a war ship into the internal and territorial waters of a nation involved in civil war and in particular into what amounted to be the war zone without having taken the necessary and required precautions for safe passage .
this is a short introduction to the hms amethyst incident in the yangtse river when she was fired on by communist forces with heavy losses to herself and those ships that attempted to rescue her . the london gazette lists the honours awarded but did not include an official despatch . in its place the proceedings of the house of commons as recorded in hansard have been quoted . these cover events in some detail until around the arrival of commander kerans to take over command . his own account - from
the naval review
- continues the story until her escape and rejoining the fleet .
( now separated and will go our devious way ) , when h . m . s . consort was ordered to the rescue of the amethyst the british embassy there was without direct communication with london , england . h . m . s . consort was in fact the listening post between london and the embassy at nanking . lieutenant commander kearns was the embassy’s naval attaché and through him went all incoming and outgoing signals . kearns was in fact by his position london’s spy , monitoring the day to day situation as it was , it fell to him keep london informed of all events including that of others involved in the cold war that existed between britain the u . s . a . and the soviet union . what was the u . s . a . and the soviet union up to that was the real importance of having a ship stationed at nanking the ship was not spying it was being used as a tool its ears the communication system .
it was at this time that i learned that robin cook , m . p . was due to hold a constituent’s surgery at broxburn , west lothian . mr cook , at that time was the british foreign secretary ; it was time to bend his ear on the matter of the yangtze incident and the graves from that incident . “someone with high profile as well as high office . ”
when h . m . s . consort , at nanking , picked up that flash signal the response was immediate . the british embassy at nanking was informed the british ambassador sir ralph stevenson stationed at nanking immediately sent dispatches to the c . c . p . headquarters requesting an immediate cease - fire .
since the time of that incident and up until the present time in this year 2003 there has never been a judicial or public enquiry into the overall yangtze incident in order to ascertain the legalities or illegalities of that incident . fifty - four years on and into the present , the government of today is attempting to avoid a judicial or public inquiry into the legalities of the right or wrongs of having gone to war in iraq .
photograph of british sloop hms black swan . during the yangtze incident , the ship fell back after unsuccessfully trying to rescue hms amethyst , suffering casualties of 46 killed and 64 injured and severe hull damage .
chief petty officer henry william robinson , g . m . , d / jx 133428 , hms consort .
h . m . s . amethyst , did not begin her journey up the yangtze river on the 20 th april 1949 the amethyst begun her journey on the 19 th of april 1949 and in beginning her journey on that date she did not have clearance or consent from the nationalist government in china , clearance or consent came from the nationalist after the amethyst had begun her journey on the 19 th of april 1949 . the amethyst on reaching kiang yin , on the 19 th april 1949 was ordered by signal from a nationalist gun boat , to drop anchor and darken ship , as the nationalists had forbidden the movements of ships on the yangtze after dark .
without a doubt many other cases of bravery and devotion will be revealed when all the facts are known . but we already have ample evidence that the conduct of the whole ship ' s company of h . m . s .
amethyst
was beyond all praise , though a considerable proportion were young sailors under fire for the first time . we have had reports of seamen and marines remaining at their task for up to twenty - four hours , though badly wounded , and of men declining to have their wounds treated until cases they considered more urgent had been dealt with . i have heard too that in h . m . s .
london
and
black swan ,
when there was a possibility of volunteers being flown to
amethyst ,
there was almost acrimonious rivalry for selection to take on this heroic task .
in 1991 in scarbourgh i met up with ex - servicemen from the 8 th destroyer flotilla and squadron association , far east 1945 - 59 the ships represented there were h . m . s . cossack , constance , consort , contest , cockade , comus , comet , concord and charity .
if there was any initial misunderstanding as to the nationality of h . m . s .
amethyst .
this would have been speedily resolved had the authorities in peking acted on his majesty ' s ambassador ' s message . moreover , had the communist authorities objected in the past to the movement of british ships on the yangtse , it was always open to them to raise these through our consular authorities in north china . it is the fact that for reasons best known to themselves the communists have failed to notify any foreign authority present in areas which they have occupied of the channels through which contact can be maintained , and that they have rejected all communications made to them . in these circumstances , his majesty ' s government can only reserve their position .
reply 1 sept . 4 , 2008 the name
tanner
does not appear on our crew list for the yangtze incident . in all probabilities he was a wartime member of the crew . you could check his service records , m . o . d . site . best wishes , charlie chivers rn amethyst association
what must have been the thoughts of the p . l . a , as one thing is certain they had not been notified of amethyst’s intention or movement ?
bandmaster frederick george harwood , r . m . b . x . 368 , royal marines . hms london .
the concord was soon met by the hms cossack and the cossack’s captain boarded the ship . he ordered the concord to patrol northern china and removed the ship’s log book – taking with him any evidence of the concord’s involvement .
h . m . s . amethyst , at dawn on the morning of 20 th april weighed anchor and began making her way up river , about an hour into her journey because of fog and treacherous currents , at the insistence of the chinese pilot the amethyst , dropped anchor . the amethyst was completely enshrouded in fog neither the north or south bank of the river was visible to the naked eye so this can well be a situation of vice versa between the ship and shore . radar would have played a part in this situation so far as the amethyst was concerned , as radar would have pointed out the shorelines of both banks of the river as well as the movement of the large flat bottomed vessels ploughing their trade on the river , those vessels would appear as mere blips on the radar screen .
nevertheless , it is a fact that since that time the movement of our war ships in the yangtze have taken place with the full knowledge and consent of the national government of china . i want to make the point therefore that when the incident took place to which i am about to refer , hms amethyst was proceeding on her lawful occasions and that there was no other properly constituted authority to whom his majesty’s government were under an obligation to notify her movements even had they been in a position to do so . ” unquote . the part played by h . m . s . consort is also covered in the public statement .
the sea cadet corps unit of welwyn garden city and hatfield in england is called ts amethyst and has close links to the famous ship of that name ; in fact , lt cdr stewart hett , formerly of the ship , is their unit president . in summer 2006 the unit moved into new accommodation and then set about enhancing their associations with amethyst and her story . this initiative included proposed visits by cadets to all the amethyst - related sites in the uk .
all this time , consort had been coming down river from nanking and somewhere around 2 p . m . appeared in sight of amethyst , saying she would make an attempt to tow them off .
here an analysis to the above paragraph is necessary and will arm the readers with knowledge and insight into matters concerning the yangtze incident .
when lieutenant commander kearns brought the ship h . m . s . amethyst out of the yangtze river he brought back the evidence of the wrongful acts and omissions of those responsible for sending the ship on a suicide mission in the first instance a ship that did not have the capacity for defensive action , such as responding to being fired upon , a war ship with no teeth and encircled on the photograph is the irrefutable photographic evidence of that fact , her orlikin or boffor guns were not on - board .
if the hopes of rescue by those on board amethyst were dashed then those same hopes of rescuing the amethyst for those of consorts ships company were also dashed and heartfelt considering the cost of what went into that rescue attempt .
“by the time of amethysts escape from the yangtze , shanghai was under the control of the c . c . p . and the peoples liberation army , during amethysts escape no ratings on board were killed . however on the 24 th april 1949 one of the wounded from amethyst on 20 th april who died from his wounds , was among those who reached shanghai having travelled overland from where the ship was grounded in the first instance and amethysts captain , who died from his wounds , was at the behest of his family committed to the sea from h . m . s . consort , while on route to hong kong from shanghai” . i also pointed out that it should be the government’s property services agency who should be dealing with the matter graves regardless of that agency’s comment that had also been published , ( “i’m afraid we cannot find the file” ) a typical comment in most matters relating to the yangtze incident .
on a peaceful mission , hms amethyst was unexpectedly atacked by the chinese people ' s liberation army on the north bank of the yangtse river . with rescue attempts blocked by the chinese communist army , for many weeks the situation remained in deadlock , until finally , lieutenant - commander john s . kerans realised he must make a dangerous decision - trust their captors to release them , or run the gauntlet of communist batteries down 140 miles of hostile territory .
while waiting on a reply to that letter i decided to take other steps to have matters concerning the yangtze incident resolved , one way was to draw attention to the farce concerning the graves , so i made up a placard with the prime ministers letter as a centrepiece surrounded by photographs that told the story concerning the graves and the duplicity attached .
reference has been made here to the book “hostage on the yangtze written by the author malcolm murfett . i . s . b . n 0870212893” the story took shape in the first instance as a thesis of naval event the yangtze incident , due to the amount of research to produce the theses a book came to life and it provides an insight into the yangtze incident , that in this country britain , government departments would prefer to keep under lock and key and in my opinion that is why , malcolm murfett in his book concludes , with the question , “why” .
when h . m . s . consort arrived at shanghai , dr wedderburn treated eight - one of consorts ships company for wounds . who is dr wedderburn ? dr wedderburn , was a doctor who in the company who in the company of a pilot in a sunderland flying boat flew over the yangtze and witnessed consorts approach and efforts in attempting to rescue the amethyst , in witnessing such dr wedderburn , later wrote it down in explicit detail as both he and the pilot at the time both were of the opinion it was beyond belief it may well be that dr wedderburn , read earl’s book and in so doing was prompted into his writing of the book “lotus garden” i have personally read the eye witness account of what both the doctor and pilot witnessed . from what can only be described as a bird’s eye view of the action taken by h . m . s . consort , her approach at speed , her devastating fire power that knocked out the p . l . a . battery’s during her three attempts to take amethyst in tow , the hits she was taking while putting in such an effort but what they were witnessing with unbelief was that there was no one to be seen on the upper decks of the amethyst .
simon’s resting place at the pdsa animal cemetery in ilford . his gravestone reads : ‘throughout the yangtze incident , his behaviour was of the highest order . ’ author : acabashi cc by - sa 3 . 0
reply 1 , aug . 12 , 2013 i ' ve just been watching yangtze incident for the umpteenth time and have been captivated by the story since i was a boy . whilst working in blackpool in the late 1960 ' s i met the mother of george winter . she described in detail how she had a premonition of georges death . i don ' t think she ever got over it . mike coyle


while waiting for godot is a web series adaptation of samuel beckett ’s play en attendant godot .

it is the winner of best cinematography at the 2014 rome web awards , and an official selection of the 2014 miami web fest .

the screenplay is based on a 2013 translation ( by director rudi azank ) , " in order to restore the language of beckett ’s more risqué original french script ( the english script of the play has always been heavily censored ) .

also more present in the original manuscript are strong vaudevillian and jewish aspects of didi and gogo , the two lead characters , and a more ' gutter-talk ' based banter between beckett 's homeless protagonists .

while waiting for godot

' while waiting - for - godot ' is made with a new york university cast & crew .
waiting for godot literature essays are academic essays for citation . these papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of waiting for godot .
a very special thanks in while waiting - for - godot season 2 ' s end credits . plus dvd set of while waiting - for - godot season 2 . plus invitation - only preview of season 2 prior to release date .
a producer credit in while waiting - for - godot season 2 ' s end credits . plus seasons 1 & 2 of while waiting - for - godot box sets . plus invitation - only preview of season 2 prior to release date .
an executive producer credit in while waiting - for - godot season 2 ' s end credits . plus 2 tickets to the red carpet premiere screening of while waiting - for - godot season 2 in new york city . plus seasons 1 & 2 of while waiting - for - godot box sets . plus invitation - only preview of season 2 prior to release date .
a thanks in while waiting - for - godot season 2 ' s end credits . plus invitation - only preview of season 2 prior to release date .
a very special thanks in while waiting - for - godot season 2 ' s end credits . plus invitation - only preview of season 2 prior to release date .
as waiting for godot turns 60 , beckett expert anna mcmullan explains why the play still appeals .
you ' ve been inactive for a while , logging you out in a few seconds . . .
cohn , ruby . casebook on waiting for godot . new york : grove , 1967 . print .
as waiting for godot reaches its 60th anniversary , the university has artefacts and pictures from the original performances .
while waiting for godot is a movie starring rudi azank , molly densmore , and stephen kaiser - pendergrast . a re - translation and interpretation of beckett ' s unpublished , pre - censorship manuscript . the main characters , while waiting , are prompted by text message to roam modern day new york city due to godot ' s indecisiveness about where to meet .
the question and answer section for waiting for godot is a great resource to ask questions , find answers , and discuss the novel .
mla citation :
miscellaneous critics on waiting for godot .
urltoken . 09 jul 2018 < urltoken > .
j . nick smith .
waiting for godot analysis of the play
. gradesaver , 1 september 1999 web .
harold pinter , also then in his twenties , saw beckett as the the
most courageous , remorseless writer going
, while reviewer bernard levin described waiting for godot as
a remarkable piece of twaddle
.
- in waiting for godot , vladimir and estragon spent the entire play waiting for a man named godot . upon hearing that godot will not come , they agree on going somewhere , yet they simply stay still and do not move . the abrupt ending to the anticipation that is built up in the story of james and irene justifiably would draw critics to call it a point - less story . waiting for godot may also be perceived to be a pointless story with no meaning ; however , unlike the story of james and irene , the ending of waiting for godot successfully delivered a message . . . . [ tags : waiting for godot essays ]
estragon and vladimir meet near a country road . homeless , destitute , and in constant pain , the men consider hanging themselves while waiting for godot . vladimir shares a carrot with estragon as they discuss their miserable lives .
videotapes and audiotapes are available at public libraries for various productions of waiting for godot . it is strongly suggested that you make use of these additional resources .
waiting for godot is on tour until 25 april then at theatre royal haymarket , london sw1 , from 30 april . details at
it ' s 60 years since samuel beckett ' s play waiting for godot received its premiere in the theatre de babylone in paris .
the beckett international foundation at the university of reading will hold a series of seminars on samuel beckett and waiting for godot in april 2013 .
- nobody comes in samuel beckett’s waiting for godot samuel beckett’s waiting for godot :
nothing happens , nobody comes , nobody goes , it’s awful .
when the play first opened , it was criticized for lacking meaning , structure , and common sense . these critics , however , failed to see that beckett chose to have his play , waiting for godot , capture the feeling that the world has no apparent meaning . in this misunderstood masterpiece , beckett asserts numerous existentialist themes . beckett believed that existence is determined by chance . . . . [ tags : waiting for godot essays ]
fredericksen , erik .
waiting for godot plot summary .
litcharts . litcharts llc , 15 dec 2013 . web . 9 jul 2018 .
fredericksen , erik .
waiting for godot plot summary .
litcharts llc , december 15 , 2013 . retrieved july 9 , 2018 . urltoken
fredericksen , erik .
waiting for godot plot summary .
litcharts llc , december 15 , 2013 . retrieved july 9 , 2018 . urltoken
this summary is based on the third printing , 1978 , by grove press , of the collected works of samuel beckett — waiting for godot .
samuel beckett ' s waiting for godot premiered as en attendant godot at a small theatre on the left bank in paris the théâtre de babylone , sixty years ago , on january 5 1953 .
two men , vladimir and estragon , meet near a tree . they converse on various topics and reveal that they are waiting there for a man named godot . while they wait , two other men enter . pozzo is on his way to the market to sell his slave , lucky . he pauses for a while to converse with vladimir and estragon . lucky entertains them by dancing and thinking , and pozzo and lucky leave .
the wait is over . behold , your next rainy - day web series awaits ; rudi azank’s while waiting for godot . azank delivers an episodic tale for the current youtube generation , circled around the duo gogo and didi and their anticipation of godot . this web series emphasises the traditional practice of re - interpretation , and its value amongst our era of dialogic technology .
characters in waiting for godot repeatedly forget the events of yesterday . if memory is faulty and one cannot remember past actions , do these actions have any meaning ?
waiting for godot study guide contains a biography of samuel beckett , literature essays , quiz questions , major themes , characters , and a full summary and analysis .
he knew these pictures so well , he was so engrossed in these scenes . it seems to me that these pictures are really echoed in waiting for godot .
- distortion in samuel beckett ' s waiting for godot distortion presents exaggerated and absurd portraits of the human condition . distortion also equips an author with a plane of existence that provides an avenue for posing questions concerning the nature of thought , behavior , and existence . samuel beckett distorts reality in his play waiting for godot ; this literary effect enables him to question human life and a possible afterlife . surfacely , the recurrent setting is absurd : vladimir and estragon remain in the same non - specified place and wait for godot , who never shows , day after day . they partake in this activity , this waiting , during both act i and act ii , and we are led to infer that . . . [ tags : waiting for godot essays ]
godot isn ' t a character but many people speculate that godot represents god or some type of omniscient power .
they have apparently known each other for years . once perhaps respectable , they are now homeless , debilitated , and often suicidal . they wonder out loud why they did not kill themselves years ago ; they consider the possibility of doing it today . they are waiting for someone they call “godot” . while they wait , they share conversation , food , and memories .
it ' s now a commonplace to see waiting for godot described as one of the most important plays of the 20th century - with its reputation gathering momentum rather than fading away .
- who is godot and what does he represent . these are two of the questions that samuel beckett allows both his characters and the audience to ponder . many experiences in this stage production expand and narrow how these questions are viewed . the process of waiting reassures the characters in beckett ' s play that they do indeed exist . one of the roles that beckett has assigned to godot is to be a savior of sorts . godot helps to give the two tramps in waiting for godot a sense of purpose . godot is an omnipresent character that helps to give meaning and function to the lives of two homeless men . . . . [ tags : waiting for godot essays ]
susan sontag came to sarajevo in 1993 ; her son david was reporting on the war , and she offered to help in whatever way she could . her decision to stage waiting for godot helped make history : the production brought so much media attention to sarajevo . ultimately it was the journalists who saved sarajevo and the production of waiting for godot played a role in that . at one point the washington post referred to the play as
waiting for clinton
and we were very happy with this connection .
in 1962 , we set up the san quentin drama workshop and staged waiting for godot in a boxing ring . having the most wicked of sentences , i needed something to relieve the despair .
the second act is almost the same as the first . the tree has sprouted leaves , estragon and vladimir chat while they wait for godot , and pozzo and lucky arrive again . this time , pozzo is blind and helpless , and lucky is mute .
the soul food cafe , built by heather blakey , was inhabited by an international group of writers and artists whose global mission was to promote writing and art - making as a daily practice through the use of interactive web - based technologies such as blogging and e - mail groups . while waiting for godot is a branch of this complex site .
an unknown error has occurred . please click the button below to reload the page . if the problem persists , please try again in a little while .
- while considering the work , its author , and the comments i have found about the play , i have come up with three hypotheses as to the meaning and overall theme . either it is about humanity waiting for a savior that does exist to return ; or it could be about the hopelessness of humanity waiting for a savior that doesn’t exist , and therefore will never come ; or , the easiest of possibilities , that waiting really has no theme at all . this last theory is the one that i most readily accept , and the answer that samuel beckett , the author of the play , put forth when questioned about the meaning of his strange little piece . . . . [ tags : waiting for godot essays ]
- waiting for godot - god isn ' t coming waiting for godot , samuel beckett ' s existential masterpiece , for some odd reason has captured the minds of millions of readers , artists , and critics worldwide , joining them all in an attempt to interpret the play . beckett has told them not to read anything into his work , yet he does not stop them . perhaps he recognizes the human quality of bringing personal experiences and such to the piece of art , and interpreting it through such colored lenses . hundreds of theories are expounded , all of them right and none of them wrong . . . . [ tags : waiting for godot essays ]
vladimir and estragon—who are also called didi and gogo , respectively—are waiting for godot , a man ( or perhaps a deity ) . the tramps can’t be sure if they’ve met godot , if they’re waiting in the right place , if this is the right day , or even whether godot is going to show up at all . while they wait , vladimir and estragon fill their time with a series of mundane activities ( like taking a boot on and off ) and trivial conversations ( turnips , carrots ) interspersed with more serious reflection ( dead voices , suicide , the bible ) .
i deliberately had an all - black cast , but i didn ' t intend to create the
waiting for the end of apartheid godot
: i wanted to depict my own struggle under apartheid . the desolation and boredom in waiting for godot was reminiscent of what we were going through in the seventies . political movements were banned and there was a conspiracy of silence that echoed in beckett ' s work .
- seeing myself in waiting for godot some people wondered why in high school my favorite book was waiting for godot , a drama described on the title page as “a two - act play in which nothing happens twice . ” in fact , my liking a play that does not portray a series of connected incidents telling a story but instead presents a pattern of images showing bewildered people in an incomprehensible universe initially baffled me too , as my partiality was more felt than thought . but then i read a piece by the critic martin esslin , who articulated my feelings . . . . [ tags : waiting for godot essays ]
although critics of waiting for godot have written reviews ranging from positive introspection to disgusting confusion , there is no debate on the success and longevity of this play . other playwrights may have dissected the play in more ways than beckett believed possible , but the audience may never know beckett’s true intentions . we must accept this ambiguity as part of the play’s essence , and not impose heavy - handed interpretations upon waiting for godot .
wo homeless old men wait in a bare road with a single tree . they are in no particular time or place - nowhere and everywhere . over two days they argue , get bored , clown around , repeat themselves , contemplate suicide , and wait . they ' re waiting for the one who will never come . they ' re waiting for godot .
i remember another pertinent line from the play : ' at this moment , at this place and time , all mankind is us ; let us do something while we have the chance . ' the audience ' s reaction was stunned silence - it was like a prayer recited on hallowed ground . a classic such as waiting for godot speaks across generations directly to each audience member .
the while waiting for godot web series is clearly a valuable depiction of timeless human traits . as a product of beckett’s time , godot does well to connect to our digital world . it presents the human condition to ourselves , exposing our sense of time , the value of chance and the tradition of philosophical soliloquy . it is the dialogue of life , death and purpose that azank can provide viewers with a modern , archetypical presentation of these facets of human existence .
the underlying humour is also part of the continuing appeal of waiting for godot , he argues . it ' s often a peculiarly bleak comedy of resistance , but the thread of humour is always there to leaven the gloom .
azank is a new york - based actor and filmmaker . he translated , adapted and directed the while waiting for godot series , which initiated as his thesis project at the new york university film school . having since graduated , azank developed this series with fellow student ran shelomi . together , they assembled and produced this 4 - episode project at nyu , which premiered on youtube in august , 2013 .
mobile link : urltoken mobile link : urltoken official website : urltoken mobile website : urltoken samuel beckett ' s while waiting - for - godot , the web series .
nothing to be done
season 1 , episode 1 share , like & post our show on facebook & twitter ! ! if you ' re a fan , please donate to our indiegogo campaign ! ( urltoken ) we need your help to shoot season 2 ( see if godot will finally arrive ! )
this is an existentialist story about two friends who are waiting . they do not actually find god , but over the time they are waiting they realize some things about themselves and the meaning of . . .
my family lost everything to hurricane katrina , so when christopher mcelroen , the director of the classical theatre of harlem , asked if i was interested in performing in his production of waiting for godot - set in post - katrina new orleans - i immediately accepted . chris had seen a photograph of two guys floating on a door during the floods which immediately reminded him of gogo and didi [ estragon and vladimir ] and inspired him to direct waiting for godot
after the success of waiting for godot , beckett wrote more plays . “the best possible play is one in which there are no actors , only the text . i’m trying to think of a way to write one , ” he said .
comes onstage , bearing a message from godot . he says godot will not come today , but will come the next day . he tells vladimir that he works for godot , minding his goats , and says that godot is a good master . the boy leaves and estragon and vladimir are ready to leave for the night . they say they are going to leave , but stay still . the first act ends .
waiting for godot ‘s success came as a surprise , even for its author . becket expected the theater to be half empty for the majority of his shows , and certainly did not strive for the worldwide fame that his work received . although the first paris performance in 1953 left audience members “baffled , bored , and irritated” ( graver 9 ) , others were soon inspired to develop various interpretations of the mysterious play .
waiting and expecting structurally presuppose a futurity conditioned by doubt and uncertainty about the object of the wait . but what can waiting signify when one no longer waits for something / someone to come in a determinable future or when the horizon of such a traditional form of waiting starts receding ? this paper attempts to frame this problem within a “dialectical” reading of beckett’s play waiting for godot , starting from the existential - temporal dimension of humanity’s dasein as “destined - to - death , ” which traces the limits of waiting with / for an end as the time of the always missed / deferred encounter with godot , symbolizing the ultimate appointment with death . as the play unfolds , the main characters may be seen to approach , albeit unwittingly , the threshold of another , more objectless waiting : that of derrida’s arrivant or waiting without ( messianic ) expectation in a future - to - come ( avenir ) . finally , after a detour via blanchot’s own modes of waiting and , as a possible remedy , the form of negation known as forgetting ( awaiting oblivion ) , it returns to the ultimate inescapability of waiting beyond the “end” of beckett’s play and , following abraham and torok’s speculative endeavor to write a “sixth act” in order to put to rest the dramatic uncertainties of hamlet , it attempts to imagine a “third act , ” once the curtain has fallen on beckett’s characters .
- an empty road , a single tree , a friends company . these sickly rewards are the ones given to men , theorizes samuel beckett in waiting for godot , when they wait for the arrival of god . stark barren surroundings and perpetual loneliness are the only gift , in beckett ' s mind , when one waits for a supernatural being who does not deign to visit mere mortals . this aloof and impersonal deity is symbolized in the aptly named character of godot , who restricts the plot of the play . he keeps vladimir and estragon from taking action , strands the theme in an unending wait for supernatural meaning , and restricts the characters ' development by keeping their thoughts turned towards the always - impendi . . . [ tags : waiting for godot essays ]
a scene from the first production of en attendant godot , paris , 1953 .
his publisher john calder also recalled how the enigmatic godot could haunt his creator .
while walking my dogs i came upon some stunningly beautiful thistles . the thistle has been much maligned . being a tough plant , the thistle grows everywhere other plants usually don’t . it stands for surviving where others won’t and often this is surviving harsh conditions .
estragon leaves , only to return soon after with news that godot is coming . instead , lucky walks up with pozzo , who has gone blind . estragon and vladimir fight , calling pozzo both cain and abel and concluding that pozzo represents all of humanity . that night , while estragon sleeps , the goatherd returns to say that godot will come tomorrow . estragon and vladimir decide they ' ll hang themselves if godot doesn ' t come .
people identified godot as fema [ the federal emergency management agency ] in its lack of response to the crisis . but we knew that godot also symbolised our very existence which had disappeared ; our neighbourhood was no longer there , and we feared it would not return . after katrina , many survivors were asking ' should i give up ? ' and waiting for godot offered the answer , ' we must go on . '
- waiting for godot is not an absurdist play samuel beckett ' s stage plays are gray both in color and in subject matter . likewise , the answer to the question of whether or not beckett ' s work is absurdist also belongs to that realm of gray in which beckett often works . the absurdist label becomes problematic when applied to beckett because his dramatic works tend to overflow the boundaries which scholars attempt to assign . when discussing beckett , the critic inevitably becomes entangled in contradiction . . . . [ tags : waiting for godot essays ]
time presents a slew of problems in waiting for godot . the very title of the play reveals its central action : waiting . the two main characters are forced to whittle away their days while anticipating the arrival of a man who never comes . because they have nothing to do in the meantime , time is a dreaded barrier , a test of their ability to endure . because they repeat the same actions every day , time is cyclical . that every character seems to have a faulty memory further complicates matters ; time loses meaning when the actions of one day have no relevance or certainty on the next .
pozzo and lucky eventually leave , and estragon wants to leave as well , but vladimir tells him they need to stay and wait for godot . a
beckett ' s life was changed by the success of godot - the international impact of the play helped him to win the nobel prize for literature .
sir tom stoppard , who first saw it in bristol in the late 1950s , says :
the play is a universal metaphor precisely because it wasn ' t designed as being a metaphor for anything in particular . the true subject matter of waiting for godot is that it ' s about two tramps waiting for somebody . it ' s not the case that the true subject matter is in the metaphor . plays which are designed to be a metaphor for particular correlatives have , i imagine , a very short lifespan . and then of course , there ' s the writing and the humour .
ultimately , waiting for godot is a very positive play , which talks about the resilience of human beings . the tree was central to my staging ; when it started to sprout leaves in act two , that sent a powerful message to oppressed people - it suggested new life and resolution , an image of hope against all the desolation . every night , the show received standing ovations . its impact was monumental : waiting for godot provided a powerful metaphor of our struggle which allowed me to get past the censor and speak to my people .
ic
vladimir wonders what he and estragon should do , and estragon says they should continue to wait . while waiting , estragon suggests they hang themselves on the tree . the two disagree over who should hang himself first , though , and vladimir concludes that they should just wait for godot . estragon asks what vladimir asked godot for and vladimir says that he made a vague sort of prayer . estragon is hungry , and vladimir offers him a carrot . all he can find in his pockets , though , are turnips . finally , he finds a carrot and gives it to estragon . estragon asks if they are
tied
to godot and vladimir says that they are . the two are interrupted by a loud scream off - stage .
hidden in mist somewhere there is an island , and on that island there is a castle , and in that castle there is a great room lit by a little lamp . and in that room people are waiting . waiting for what ? they don’t know ! they’re waiting for someone to open the door , waiting for their lamp to go out , waiting for fear and death . they talk . yes , they speak words that shatter the silence of the moment . and then they listen again , leaving their sentences unfinished , their gesture uncomplicated . they are listening . they are waiting . will she come perhaps , or won’t she ? yes , she will come ; she always comes . but it is late , and she will not come perhaps until tomorrow . the people collected under that little lamp in that great room have , nevertheless , begun to smile ; they still have hope . then there is a knock - a ‘knock’ and that is all there is : and it is life complete , all of life .
and the play has acquired a remarkable record for being performed in very different international settings . no disaster or civil strife is complete without its own godot .
while it may be helpful to examine the roots of beckett’s work , it is also necessary to mention that a new category was invented by critics of the fifties and sixties to house waiting for godot . this category , theater of the absurd , was used to describe the new kind of theater that beckett represented . while martin esslin defined it as “striving to express its sense of the senselessness of the human condition and the inadequacy of the rational approach by the open abandonment of rational devices and discursive thought , ” other critics had their own interpretations . they characterized it as having absurd dialogue , characters and situations . it included the work of dramatists as diverse as jean genet , harold pinter , edward albee and eugene ionesco .
this story characterizes some of the critics , as well as some of the interpretations of waiting for godot . it has been seen as existentialist ( depicting man as lost as insecure in a world without god ) ; marxist ( representing man turning away from his capitalist society , and embracing socialism and communism as alternatives to political alienation ) ; freudian ( vladimir represents the ‘ego’ , estragon represents the ‘id’ ) ; and christian ( the play as a parable illustrating man’s need for salvation ) . yet , while these theories have some validity , they are all open to debate . they reflect a complex culture but limit understanding of the play . “the great success of waiting for godot , ” beckett said , “had arisen from a misunderstanding : critic and public alike were busy interpreting in allegorical or symbolic terms a play which strove at all costs to avoid definition . ”
true to his word , he attempted to eliminate his characters . while waiting for godot had five actors , endgame ( 1958 ) had only four . one character was dying , and two others were consigned to ashcans . the stage poem , “play” ( 1964 ) , was down to three performers , all stashed away in funereal urns . happy days ( 1961 ) had a woman buried to her waist and then her head in sand . her husband remained invisible until he crawled out of his hole to say hello .
i am a big fan of ibsen’s “a doll’s house” and i thought no play could ever surpass it . the play “engame” was alright but quite dull and at times pointlessly depressing but “waiting for godot” is , in one word ; amazing ! i hope this adaptation is good and relatively faithful !
bought wfg for my uni course and had to read it for that . didn’t like it very much , maybe this is mroe entertaining .
invitation to a reception to celebrate the first production of en attendant godot , paris , 1953 .
michael adams , 42 , serving 15 years to life for second - degree murder , said the hours spent in drama classes had become an outlet for self - expression in an environment not known for rewarding such behavior .
susan initially wanted to stage beckett ' s happy days , but when i explained that what we were doing in sarajevo was waiting , she decided on waiting for godot . at that time , people really thought it was just a matter of time before somebody would rescue the city . it was outrageous that , at the end of the 20th century , on live tv , the world could see daily bombardments of the city , and do nothing . every single day we thought that our godot would come and every night we understood that he wouldn ' t .
we could talk forever about its meaning but i actually think , like beckett , it is about is experiencing the play . you go and take your seat in the theatre and you absorb what ' s happening . the characters that are in front of you are waiting and while they are waiting we share the same time , the same space and we watch the human beings as they interact on stage . we watch these moments of tenderness , moments of cruelty and i think it really confronts us with the basic facts of human existence .
among those who praised waiting for godot , disagreement over the “hidden” meanings created many interpretations . in 1953 , alain robbe - grillet , the young novelist of the nouveau romain , insisted that the play was not an allegory that contained all sorts of hidden symbolism , and that beckett succeeded in his “dramatization of the human condition : the state of ‘being there’” ( graver 12 ) . he tells that the characters who are waiting for godot do not experience a future or past , but are simply there ( graver 12 ) . beckett himself was not pleased by the success of his play because of the tendency audience and critics had to see religious and philosophical meanings that were not purposely included . beckett insists that “the key to the play was the literal relations among its surface features , not any presumed meanings that could be deduced from them” ( cousineau 11 ) . in this light , dina scherzer suggests that beckett’s resistance to meaning in waiting for godot asserts that “language is not an inert substance ; rather , it is a material that can be shaped and transformed” ( cousineau 18 ) . scherzer views the play as a way to express the potentials in language that are normally suppressed . this viewpoint more closely aligns with beckett’s desire for the analysis of literal relations as opposed to symbolism . waiting for godot could be beckett’s way of liberating language from its rational entrapment .
summary of the play waiting for godot is a play in two acts . act i begins on a country road by a tree . it is evening . estragon , an old man , is sitting on a low mound trying to remove his boot . vladimir , another old man , joins him . they begin to chat .
- samuel beckett and waiting for godot as much as any body of writing this century , the works of samuel beckett reflect an unflinching , even obsessive flirtation with universal void . his literary and dramatic accounts of skirmishes with nothingness portray human beings ( generally beings , at least , beings more or less human and intact ) situated in paradoxical , impossibly absurd circumstances . samuel barclay beckett was born in the comfortable dublin suburb of foxrock in 1906 , on the 13th either of april , which was good friday that year , or else of may - he and his birth certificate always disagreed on this point . . . . [ tags : waiting for godot essays ]
as major new productions of samuel beckett ' s masterpiece waiting for godot open in britain and on broadway , david smith argues that the playwright ' s genius lay in creating a work that , more than half a century on , still speaks to audiences , particularly in troubled times . below , we speak to those involved in some landmark productions
faber and faber have published a series of notebooks beckett kept when he was directing a number of his plays . in any case , substantially the play is the same – two tramps still waiting for godot – but those notebooks have a revised text and anybody directing the play can look at the published text and can consult those notebooks too .
waiting for godot seems to have a unique resonance during times of social and political crisis . as a modernist existential meditation it can at first appear bleak :
they give birth astride of a grave ,
says pozzo .
the light gleams an instant , then it ' s night once more .
but it is also funny and poetic , and reveals humanity ' s talents for stoicism , companionship and keeping going .
detailed explanations , analysis , and citation info for every important quote on litcharts .
some critics referred to eugene ionesco as the grand master of the theater of the absurd . his play , the bald soprano , produced in paris three years before waiting for godot , ran for twenty years and was the first example of the “anti - theater theater . ” although it seemed to follow the outline for light comedy by using a drawing room setting , it quickly transformed the clichéd dialogue of two model british families into madness and hysteria . this was absurdity in its typical sense , as hilarious farce .
on the basis that things grow by delay , during a semester break , i began by doing a spot of sniff mapping around central victoria with my two dogs . while my companions and i waited for godot to provide some direction , magic has taken place . when we slow down , connect with the country and create a nurturing environment , the blossom turns to fruit and the wheat ripens . forks in the road appear that take us in exciting new directions .
beckett is believed to have said that the name godot comes from the french
godillot
meaning a military boot . beckett fought in the war and so spending long periods of time waiting for messages to arrive would have been commonplace for him . the more common interpretation that it might mean
god
is almost certainly wrong . beckett apparently stated that if he had meant
god ,
he would have written
god
.
before i staged waiting for godot , beckett had refused to let anyone perform his play in south africa because he was so opposed to apartheid . when i began work on the show , i became the market theatre ' s first resident black director ; until then , blacks couldn ' t work in the theatre and mixed - race audiences were forbidden .
that
godot
performance , now more than half a century ago , did more than just entertain prisoners .
neither of the new productions will attempt to spin a directorial interpretation around the crashes of the city or wall street . for the text is the perfect statement of futility and redemption , of lying in the gutter but looking at the stars , and audiences who seek the pattern of their own fears will find it for themselves . a hundred years from now , the recession , it must be hoped , will be in the history books , but vladimir and estragon will still be on a stage somewhere - still waiting for godot .
the nothingness is interrupted by the arrival of the boy , who reports to vladimir that godot isn’t coming today , but will be there tomorrow . yippee ! except not , since vladimir’s comments suggest that the boy has said this before . estragon and vladimir talk about suicide some more and then resolve to leave the stage , since it’s nightfall and they no longer have to wait for godot . of course , having resolved to leave , neither man moves , and the curtain closes on act i . the curtain opens for act ii , which you will soon see is remarkably like act i . the men still sit around waiting for godot and try to fill the idle hours in the meantime . lucky and pozzo show up , only this time lucky has gone mute and pozzo is blind . they putz around the stage for a while , and pozzo declares that , having lost his eyes , he now has no sense of time . lucky declares nothing , because he’s mute . vladimir gets rather poetic in the meantime , wondering if maybe he’s sleeping , agreeing with pozzo’s claim that life is fleeting , and concluding that habit is the great deadener of life . pozzo and lucky leave again , just in time for the boy to show up and tell vladimir that godot isn’t coming today , but will be there tomorrow .
katherine m . wilson disagrees with g . s . fraser in 1956 , and writes that waiting for godot conveys modern life in its full horror so that , “‘the audience , finding it unendurable , may be forced to remedy it’” ( graver 16 ) . wilson suggests that fraser’s analysis leads the audience to blame all our misery on god and fate , excusing us of the responsibility to do anything about it . taking existentialist views , wilson feels the need to begin analysis of the play with the human individual . by focusing on the person instead of religion and mystery , the audience members may understand the purpose of the art and become inspired to initiate the change that beckett desires . wilson sees the moral of the play as a question : “if this is what waiting for godot is like , must we wait for him ? ”
just like the day before , a boy enters with a message from godot , that he will not come this day but will certainly come the next . vladimir asks the boy what godot does and the boy says godot does nothing . vladimir asks the boy to tell godot that he saw vladimir . the boy leaves . estragon wants to go far away , but vladimir says they can ' t go far , as they have to come back here tomorrow and wait for godot . estragon suggests they hang themselves on the tree using his belt , but when they test the belt ' s strength by pulling on either end , it breaks . vladimir and estragon prepare to leave for the night . they say they are going to leave , but neither moves .
nice , i’ll watch through it tonight . i’ve always been tempted to write a sequel titled “the arrival of godot” 😀
i put waiting for godot on the same level as the greek plays : it asks questions of theatre that are extremely difficult to resolve . i chose only to use women in my 1991 production for avignon because i was convinced that female actresses introduce a range of acting possibilities that is broader than for men . when putting on waiting for godot , you are very limited in your possibilities , because beckett specified how it should be played . so using just female actresses was an enormous step . perhaps , because the actor is a woman , there is an anomaly that is consistent with beckett , a writer who is completely unexpected and unpredictable . the beckett estate said i didn ' t have the right to do it , so then it became a question of principle . for me , no writer can impose his view on a production . so i launched a case to put the production on in avignon and it was the first time in the history of the french theatre that a director has had his production upheld by the law .
landmark productions of the play in the past half century have touched a nerve , or been designed as a catalyst for change , in troubled societies all over the world . an all - black godot in south africa implied a wait for the end of apartheid . productions in california ' s san quentin prison and in new orleans after hurricane katrina captured a restless present and yearning for renewal .
the play was boycotted by the press , but the audience was full and no one walked out or complained ; there was lots of applause . i believe that i was truer to beckett than lots of other directors . i wanted to try to recapture the atmosphere of when waiting for godot was first put on . there was a real shock , an intellectual shock to the public .
ally carnwath
after pozzo and lucky leave , a boy enters and tells vladimir that he is a messenger from godot . he tells vladimir that godot will not be coming tonight , but that he will surely come tomorrow . vladimir asks him some questions about godot and the boy departs . after his departure , vladimir and estragon decide to leave , but they do not move as the curtain falls .
although very existentialist in its characterizations , waiting for godot is primarily about hope . the play revolves around vladimir and estragon and their pitiful wait for hope to arrive . at various times during the play , hope is constructed as a form of salvation , in the personages of pozzo and lucky , or even as death . the subject of the play quickly becomes an example of how to pass the time in a situation which offers no hope . thus the theme of the play is set by the beginning :
mandell recalled that some of his fellow actors were reluctant to put their energy into such an avant - garde play for an audience of thieves and murderers .
it ' s said that ' godot ' was written for 20 , 000 intellectuals who ' d get it ,
he said .
some thought ( prisoners would ) be the last to get it , that it was too esoteric for them to understand .
once , as he was casting hickey for eugene o ' neill ' s
the iceman cometh
- a character who murders his wife - one inmate pleaded for the role on the basis that he ' d committed the same crime .
i couldn ' t let him do it ,
mandell reasoned .
it wasn ' t a problem for him , but it was for me .
alan mandell is an original cast member of the play ,
looking for godot
which was performed in 1957 at san quentin state prison in san rafael , calif . , mandel visits the prison on friday dec . 19 , 2008 .
before attempting to make any sense out of waiting for godot , it is necessary to put some things into perspective . when beckett wrote this play ( from october 1948 to january 1949 ) , he was already more than forty years old . half of his life had passed . he considered himself a novelist who wrote godot # 1 “as a form of relaxation , to get away from the awful prose i was writing at the time . ” it was like a game to him , a momentary release from the real work of constructing fiction . it was not the vehicle he would have chosen to make him famous .
mandell returned to the state prison on the san francisco bay near san rafael to view a screening of the documentary
the impossible itself ,
a retelling of a nov . 19 , 1957 , performance of
waiting for godot
put on in the prison by mandell and a handful of fellow actors from the san francisco actors workshop . the one - night show directed by herbert blau was so well received by the audience of 1 , 400 inmates that it inspired a group of prisoners to start the still - active san quentin drama workshop , which mandell directed for six years .
alan mandel , ( left ) is an original cast member of the play ,
looking for godot
which was performed in 1957 at san quentin state prison in san rafael , calif . mandel with actors in the san quentin drama workshop . . . more
“off we go again , ” says estragon , with no more enthusiasm than vladimir , who will later say the same . you know how they feel . a masterpiece written straight out of the starting blocks , roundly rejected and soon hailed as a modern classic , samuel beckett’s waiting for godot is now nothing like its famous no - show – it turns up quite frequently . you would have hoped that this recent deregulation in the beckett industry , which flooded the world’s theatres with productions , has allowed for infinite revealing and rewarding variations . you would have been disappointed . nothing to be done .
when estragon asks , for the billionth time , why they are waiting , to be told , for the billionth time , the answer , he replies , “ah yes” , as though it were a fresh realisation . this is the tragicomedy you recognise gnawing at your life , at your world : the deadening and sustaining routines , the dance between despair and happiness , the cold hard promise of oblivion . you shouldn’t laugh . but you will .
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estragon leaves the stage for a moment and then returns and says that
they
are coming . he and vladimir hold lookouts at either end of the stage . after insulting each other , they make up and embrace . pozzo and lucky enter . pozzo is now blind , following closely behind lucky . lucky stops when he sees vladimir and estragon , and pozzo bumps into him . they both fall to the ground and pozzo cannot get up . vladimir and estragon consider trying to get something out of pozzo for helping him up . pozzo cries out for help and offers money in return for any assistance . vladimir decides to help pozzo up but falls over himself in the process . estragon tries to help vladimir up , but falls down in the process . none of the characters are able to get up for a while , but estragon suddenly suggests that he and vladimir try to stand up and they are able to get up easily .
the inspiration for godot may be found in the work of the late nineteenth - century symbolist playwrights . a description of symbolist drama , written by remy de gourmont in 1895 , ( which was also referred to as “static drama” ) , seems to have some relevance :
in 1975 , samuel beckett directed the german production , warten auf godot , at the schiller theater . for this occasion , “to give form to the confusion , ” he divided the play into eleven sections . these divisions served as a guide to the play’s structure .