Contexts
A brief biography of Samuel Beckett
Beckett’s work
The theatrical context of the play
‘Postmodernism’ by Bernard O’Donoghue
Other key contexts for reading Waiting for Godot
Activities
Short plays: teacher notes
Short plays 1: Breath
Short plays 2: Come and Go
Short plays 3: Play
Essay questions on shorter plays
Lucky and his speech
Dialogue and silence
Circus, film and music-hall influences
Symbols
Ambiguity and the key themes in the play
Vladimir and Estragon
Assessment focus
Assessment information sheet
Essay questions and sample answer
Important quotations
Formative assessment: marking and analysing a student essay
Mark band descriptors
Resources
Summaries and commentary
‘Storytelling and silence in the plays of Samuel Beckett’ by Michael Thomas
‘Approaching Waiting for Godot’ by David Parfitt
‘Presence of the past in Waiting for Godot’ by Laurence Coupe
Obituaries
‘Writer “born astride a grave” leaves bleak artistic legacy’
by David Lister
‘At odds with ends’ by Eric Griffiths
References and further reading
Photocopiable resources to save the busy literature teacher hours of preparation time
Provide an invaluable source of thoroughly researched material
Create opportunties for a more student-centered learning approach
Improve and enhance student knowledge and appreciation of set texts
Provide a solution to specialist staff absence