Forget Keanu: Ulster Scots translation of Beckett classic takes on spate of celebrity Godots
Beneath a stark steel tree in a bleak upland bog, a literary masterpiece is set to assume a different linguistic mantle,Samuel Beckett’s enigmatic tragicomedy Waiting for Godot will make its world premiere in Ulster Scots, a moment described as a “coming of age” for the minority language, and the antithesis of the trend for celebrity Godots,On Good Friday, after an uphill trek of about 3km, the audience will arrive at a spot in the vast volcanic Antrim Plateau in Northern Ireland, if not footsore then certainly empathic to the physical discomfort of Estragon struggling to remove his ill-fitting boots,The “existential landscape of heath, moss and bog” in County Antrim lends itself to a script “peppered with exterior references”, said Seán Doran, of festival organiser Arts over Borders, which is staging the production as part of a major new arts festival, the Samuel Beckett Biennale,But while there have been previous outdoor productions, it will be the “forceful pronunciation and sound” of delivering it in Ulster Scots, or Ullans, for the first time and in a region where the language is spoken, that will “bring a whole new total register” and change the whole performative aspect of the play, said Doran.
In October, a commissioner for Ulster-Scots was appointed under the Identity and Language Act in Northern Ireland to act as cultural safeguard for the language, which has its roots in the early 17th -century plantations of Scots speakers to the north of Ireland.Against this backdrop, Frank Ferguson, who is translating the play, hailed its performance as “a major coming of age moment”.“It shows a confidence in what Ulster-Scots can do as a language, because you take on one of the major global dramatic phenomenon and you place it within its Ulster-Scots translation.”The working title is Ettlin Fur Godot, and its famous stage directions of “A country road.A tree.
Evening” will translate as “A loanen.A tree.Dailygan”.Ferguson, research director of the Centre for Irish and Scottish Studies at Ulster University, suggested that audiences may develop an ear for Ulster Scots, which has many words with similar roots to English – but that translations might be provided.Ferguson considers it a language, not dialect, one that in the wake of the Good Friday agreement is “discovering itself and trying to find its way in the world”.
And it works “beautifully” in the Godot setting, he said.Not least because of “ the sense of waiting and hoping and longing for something; all minority languages are longing for that sort of moment of salvation, that moment of revelation.So, that looking, and hoping, and wishing for a Godot-like figure or moment works very well I think with Ulster Scots because in a sense it’s waiting for its moment to live and find itself again”.It will be performed on Good Friday, 3 April 2026 (Beckett was born on a Good Friday), and is part of a new Beckett Biennale, which over the next 10 years will experiment with unexpected approaches including translations in Aboriginal Noongar, Sami and Inuit , and productions starring homeless actors.Arts Over Borders, producers of cross-border north-south arts festivals, aims to bring Godot back to its original roots when it premiered in French in Paris in 1953 and in London and Dublin two years later.
The biennale aims to be the antithesis of the current trend for productions starring big names.Keanu Reeves is the latest Hollywood star, currently performing on Broadway; double-acts such as Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen, Bill Paterson and Brian Cox, Ben Whishaw and Lucian Msamati, and Robin Williams and Steve Martin are others who have risen to its challenges.Doran appreciates “celebrity Godot” as a vehicle that spreads the word more effectively than anything else.But he believes it can detract from other perspectives, possibilities and insights.“And that’s clearly what we’re trying to do through the different languages, the outdoor setting, the homeless actors.
”The Samuel Beckett Biennale will be set in rural and urban settings in Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland and England in 2026, returning in 2028.This article was amended on 2 January 2026.An earlier picture caption on the image of Samuel Beckett said that it was taken in 1997.In fact, it was taken in 1985.The playwright died in 1989.
Starmer urged to scrap ‘outdated’ law limiting power to stop new gambling premises
Keir Starmer has been urged to abolish an “outdated” rule that limits the power of communities to prevent bookmakers and 24-hour slot machine shops from opening on high streets.In a letter to the prime minister, nearly 300 politicians and campaigners called for an end to the “aim to permit” policy, introduced when Tony Blair’s Labour government liberalised gambling laws in 2005.The rule places a legal obligation on licensing authorities such as councils or the Gambling Commission to err on the side of allowing new gambling premises.“Our high streets are being hollowed out by a surge of betting shops and 24/7 slot-machine venues, while local people are left powerless,” said the Labour MP Dawn Butler, who coordinated the letter.She said the aim to permit rule had left councils powerless to refuse licence applications, even in the face of local opposition
Guardian Hope appeal raises more than £800,000 for charities tackling division
Donations to the Guardian’s Hope appeal have passed the £800,000 mark as generous readers continue to support inspirational grassroots charities that promote tolerance and tackle division, racism and hatred.The 2025 Guardian appeal is raising funds for five charities: Citizens UK, the Linking Network, Locality, Hope Unlimited Charitable Trust and Who is Your Neighbour?The Hope appeal, which is entering its final few days, supports charities offering positivity and common purpose against an backdrop of extremist violence and harassment, anti-migrant rhetoric, and the re-emergence of “1970s-style racism”.One donor told us by email: “I support all efforts to rebuild community links and cohesion. With lived experience of racism (current and past), I never want it to stain our country again.“Hate and division are making our communities less safe for all of us
US to slash routine vaccine recommendations for children in major change experts say creates doubt
The Trump administration will slash routine vaccine recommendations during childhood from 17 to 11 jabs – the biggest change to vaccines yet under the purview of longtime vaccine critic Robert F Kennedy Jr.The changes, which US health officials announced on Monday afternoon and are effective immediately, will erode trust and reduce access to vaccines while allowing infectious diseases to spread, experts said.“The goal of this administration is to basically make vaccines optional,” said Paul Offit, an infectious diseases physician at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and a former member of the advisory committee on vaccines for the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). “And we’re paying the price.”The CDC will now recommend one dose of the HPV vaccine instead of two
Shortage of NHS stroke specialists resulting in thousands dead or disabled, say doctors
Thousands of people who have had a stroke are ending up severely disabled or dying because the NHS has too few specialists to treat them quickly enough, senior doctors are warning.A chronic shortage of stroke consultants across the NHS means that patients are suffering horrendous consequences because of delays in getting clot-busting drugs and surgery, they said.“People are either dying or living with disability unnecessarily because they’re not getting the correct evaluation and treatment by the right expert at the right time,” Prof David Werring, the past president of the British and Irish Association of Stroke Physicians (BIASP), told the Guardian.Many hospitals cannot urgently diagnose stroke patients and give them time-critical treatment to maximise their chances of a full recovery “because we haven’t got enough consultants”, Werring said. “The shortage means that when people have an acute stroke, they cannot be sure of receiving an expert consultant opinion to get the right diagnosis and the right treatment at the right time
US traders make big profits betting on Maduro’s capture in January
Gamblers appear to have made large profits after successfully betting on the capture of Venezuela’s president, Nicolás Maduro.Ahead of Donald Trump’s shock announcement on Saturday morning, traders seemed to have anticipated Maduro’s political demise by placing timely wagers on so-called “prediction markets”.Prediction markets are online gambling platforms that allow individuals to bet against each other on a range of markets that have been created by the host website.They are typically binary bets – for example, punting on yes/no or higher/lower outcomes – with the markets ranging from the identity of the next Republican US presidential nominee (JD Vance/Marco Rubio) to wagers on whether the S&P 500 index will rise or fall on a particular trading day on Wall Street.Last Friday, an apparent new trader on Polymarket
UK arts groups offer therapeutic support to performers as they challenge myth of tortured artist
From Vincent van Gogh to Virginia Woolf, from Nina Simone to Amy Winehouse, the tortured-artist archetype looms large: private torment fuelling public brilliance.But across opera, theatre, film and television, a growing movement is pushing back against what many now insist is a corrosive myth – the romanticised necessity of creative martyrdom.“Artists don’t need help because they’re weak; they need it because they’re strong,” said Annilese Miskimmon, the artistic director at English National Opera. “They’re strong enough to rehearse deeply traumatic parts multiple times a day and then perform those roles to order in front of thousands of people.”Miskimmon recently directed Dead Man Walking, a true story that opens with the rape and murder of two teenagers – and closes with the state-sanctioned killing of the murderer, scrutinised by the grieving parents and the teenagers’ ghosts
Majestic Smith passes Hobbs to leave only Bradman clear on top of Ashes mountain | Geoff Lemon
The Breakdown | Rugby’s leaders should show courage of their convictions as Stephen Jones did
Bethell admits ‘tired’ England need to ‘graft’ after hitting Ashes wall in Sydney
Conscript Potts is England’s paratrooper fighting a lonely Ashes war in Sydney | Barney Ronay
Smith and Head hit centuries to help Australia grind England into the dust
Nick Kyrgios may be resigned to tennis fringes as singles career fizzles out