Video: Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter Discuss Themes in WAITING FOR GODOT

Alex Winter and Keanu Reeves, currently starring in the Broadway production of Waiting for Godot, recently visited The Late Show with Stephen Colbert to talk about the famed Samuel Beckett play.

For the uninitiated in the audience, Reeves explained the premise of the show, noting a stark contrast with Shakespeare's Hamlet. "If Hamlet is 'To be or not to be, that is the question,' Becket and Waiting for Godot says, 'That is not the question,' shared Reeves. Instead, the play asks the question, 'What are we doing here?' "In a broad sense, it talks about our relationship to a personal God... and then there is friendship, codependence, yearning, waiting..."

"Characters can become both brutal and loving. You end up playing all of life in the course of two hours, which is kind of a trip," added Winter. The real-life friends went on to talk about their experience performing together, along with the production's unique set, which has been met with a variety of different interpretations from audience members. Watch the full interview now.

The strictly limited engagement of Waiting For Godot is now playing at Broadway’s Hudson Theatre. Find out what critics think of the production here.

Starring Keanu Reeves as ‘Estragon’ and Alex Winter as ‘Vladimir,' the production also features Brandon J. Dirden as ‘Pozzo,'  Michael Patrick Thornton as ‘Lucky,’ with Zaynn Arora and Eric Williams who will share the role of ‘A Boy.’ The cast is completed by understudies Jesse Aaronson and Franklin Bongjio. 

Beckett’s masterpiece, Waiting For Godot, is acknowledged as one of the greatest plays of the 20th century. Originally premiering in 1953 in French with a subsequent English-language production premiering in 1955 in London, it has become a cultural touchstone having been translated into dozens of languages and has inspired artists in the worlds of film, television, dance, opera, visual arts, fashion, and even video games. London’s National Theatre surveyed over 800 leaders of the theater world and Waiting For Godot topped the list as the most significant play of the last 100 years.