Irish director’s Beckett production cancelled after allowing only men to audition

Director Oisín Moyne says he considered casting people of other genders, but decided against it because of rules set down by the playwright.

A staging of Waiting for Godot in the Netherlands has been cancelled by the venue, after the director had auditioned only men for the all-male cast of characters. Speaking to the Irish Times, Donegal native Oisín Moyne who had hoped to make his directorial debut with the famous tragicomedy said “I would wholeheartedly say that my life in the past few weeks has become utterly absurd.” According to the Times the play had been in rehearsals since November and was due to be staged at the University of Groningen’s Usva student cultural centre in March, but performances were cancelled after the venue discovered the casting call for the play’s five male roles had been open to men only - a restriction they informed the production went against a university inclusivity policy.

Johnny Murphy (Estragon) and Barry McGovern (Vladimir) in the Gate's production of Waiting for Godot.

A spokesperson for the University of Groningen said that times have changed since the play was first staged in 1953.

“(Beckett) explicitly stated that this play should be performed by five men. Moving forward, times have changed. And that the idea that only men are suitable for this role is outdated and even discriminatory,” university press officer Elies Kouwenhoven said.

“We as a university stand for an open inclusive community where it is not appropriate to exclude others, on any basis.”

Mr Moyne told the Irish Times that he had considered casting people of other genders for the five all-male roles, but could not do so because of rules set down by the playwright before his death and upheld by the Beckett estate. “I’ve had to unfortunately tell my parents that the show might not be happening, and they were planning to fly over. A friend from home who I haven’t seen in a long time is visiting the city and was going to see the play, and I had to tell her that wasn’t going to happen,” he said. “A few members of cast and crew have already made the joke that, hilariously, we’re all now waiting for Godot.” Header image via kennedy-center.org READ NEXT: Galway restaurant launches scallop flavoured ice cream