Waiting for Godot returns to the Arts Theatre for a new West End production

Beckett's most famous work returns to London's West End

A new West End production of Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot will return to the Arts Theatre from 5 to 23 September, 62 years since making its English-language premiere at the same venue in London's West End.

ABA Productions will present this new revival, directed by Peter Reid. The production has toured internationally for ten years and comes to the UK for the first time following runs in Singapore and the USA and will officially open in the West End on 7 September 2017.

Patrick O'Donnell and Paul Kealyn will reprise their roles of Gogo and Pozzo with Nick Devlin taking on the role of Didi and Conor Donelan as Lucky.

"Two tramps, Didi and Gogo wait on a country road by a tree for a man named Godot. They don't know what he looks like or when they were supposed to meet. They don't know what they asked him for or what he will do when he gets there. All they know is that when Godot arrives they will be saved. If he doesn't arrive they have to come back tomorrow and wait again. Didi and Gogo pass the time by playing games, arguing and questioning why they are waiting. Pozzo, a landowner arrives with his slave Lucky who he is bringing to the fair to sell. They pass the time. Pozzo and Lucky leave. A boy arrives and tells them Godot won't come today but surely tomorrow. They wait."

Waiting for Godot was first performed at the Théâtre de Babylone, Paris on 5 January 1953 under the title 'En attendant Godot'. Originally subtitled "a tragicomedy in two acts" it had its English-language premiere at the Arts Theatre on 3 August 1955 directed by the 24-year-old Peter Hall. Famously labelled 'a play in which nothing happens, twice' by Irish literary critic Vivian Mercier in 1956, audiences continue to debate social, political, philosophical and theological interpretations of the text which was voted most significant English language play of the 20th century in a poll by the Royal National Theatre in 1990.

Director Peter Reid has previously directed all of Beckett's major works. He said of the news: "Waiting for Godot revolutionised the fabric of theatre and I'm delighted to be bringing the greatest show of the 20th century back to its birthplace at the Arts Theatre".

Waiting for Godot tickets are now on sale.