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A shabby man named Estragon, sits near a tree at dusk and struggles to remove his boot.
一个叫做爱斯特拉冈的人衣衫褴褛，他在傍晚时分坐在树边，奋力脱掉他的靴子。
He's soon joined by his friend Vladimir, who reminds his anxious companion that they must wait here for someone called Godot.
很快朋友弗拉季米尔也来了，爱斯特拉冈提醒他焦虑的朋友，他们必须等待一个叫做戈多的人。
So begins a vexing cycle in which the two debate when Godot will come, why they're waiting, and whether they're even at the right tree.
两人于是陷入了无休止的激烈论战：戈多什么时候来，他们为什么要等戈多，甚至于他们是否在对的树下。
From here, Waiting for Godot only gets stranger -- but it's considered a play that changed the face of modern drama.
自此，《等待戈多》变得越来越奇怪，但这样一出戏，改变了现代戏剧的面貌。
Written by Samuel Beckett between 1949 and 1955, it offers a simple but stirring question -- what should the characters do?
本剧作者塞缪尔·贝克特，写于1949至1955年。它提出了一个简单但令人迷惑的问题：剧中人物应该做些什么？
Don't let's do anything. It's safer.
什么也不要做，这样更安全。
Let's wait and see what he says.
让我们等等，看看他怎么说。
Who? Godot. Good idea.
谁？戈多。好主意。
Such cryptic dialogue and circular reasoning are key features of the Theatre of the Absurd,
这些晦涩的对话和圆环式的逻辑是荒诞派戏剧的主要特点，
a movement which emerged after the Second World War and found artists struggling to find meaning in devastation.
荒诞派运动诞生于二战后，艺人们奋力地找寻毁灭行为的意义。
The absurdists deconstructed plot, character and language to question their meaning and share their profound uncertainty on stage.
荒诞派解构了剧情、人物和语言，质疑这些东西的意义，在舞台上呈现它们深深的不确定性。
While this may sound grim, the absurd blends its hopelessness with humor.
虽然这些听上去很悲观，不过荒诞派在其无助之感中融入了幽默。
This is reflected in Beckett's unique approach to genre in Waiting for Godot, which he branded "a tragicomedy in two acts."
这一点也反映在《等待戈多》中。贝克特将该剧划为独特的门类，将其称为“两幕悲喜剧”。
Tragically, the characters are locked in an existential conundrum:
悲剧在于，两个人物陷入了一个存在难题：
they wait in vain for an unknown figure to give them a sense of purpose, but their only sense of purpose comes from the act of waiting.
他们徒劳地等待，等待未知的人给他们一个目的，但他们唯一的目的，却是来自于这场等待。
While they wait, they sink into boredom, express religious dread and contemplate suicide.
在等待的过程中，他们陷入了困倦，流露出对宗教的恐惧，考虑过自杀。
But comically, there is a jagged humor to their predicament, which comes across in their language and movements.
而喜剧在于，他们的困境有一种生冷的幽默，从他们的语言和动作中表达出来。
Their interactions are filled with bizarre wordplay, repetition and double entendres,
他们间的互动充满着奇怪的文字游戏，重复、双关，
as well as physical clowning, singing and dancing, and frantically swapping their hats.
他们还扮丑、歌唱、舞蹈，发狂似的换帽子。
It's often unclear whether the audience is supposed to laugh or cry -- or whether Beckett saw any difference between the two.
观众常常搞不清是该笑还是该哭，而贝克特自己又是否真的区别了二者。
Born in Dublin, Beckett studied English, French and Italian before moving to Paris, where he spent most of his life writing theatre, poetry and prose.
贝克特生于都柏林，曾学习英语、法语及意大利语，后来移居巴黎，余生大部分时光编写戏剧、诗歌及散文。
While Beckett had a lifelong love of language, he also made space for silence by incorporating gaps, pauses and moments of emptiness into his work.
贝克特毕生虽喜欢运用语言，他亦给沉默留下了空间，将间隔、停顿及空白的片段，插入其作品之中。
This was a key feature of his trademark uneven tempo and black humor, which became popular throughout the Theatre of the Absurd.
这一重要特点属于他标志性的不均衡节奏和黑色幽默，这种风格席卷荒诞派戏剧。
He also cultivated a mysterious persona, and refused to confirm or deny any speculations about the meaning of his work.
他还有着一种捉摸不透的个性，他拒绝证实或否认关于他作品意义的猜测。
This kept audiences guessing, increasing their fascination with his surreal worlds and enigmatic characters.
这使得观众不断猜测，使得他们更加着迷于他的怪诞世界和令人费解的人物。
The lack of any clear meaning makes Godot endlessly open to interpretation.
由于缺乏明确的意义，使得“戈多"可以任意解读。
Critics have offered countless readings of the play, resulting in a cycle of ambiguity and speculation that mirrors the plot of the drama itself.
评论家们对本剧做出了无数种解释，形成了无止境的模糊与猜测，这与《等待戈多》的情节如出一辙。
It's been read as an allegory of the Cold War, the French Resistance, and Britain's colonization of Ireland.
有人称它影射的是冷战、或法国抵抗运动、或英国对爱尔兰的殖民统治。
The dynamic of the two protagonists has also sparked intense debate.
二位主角间的关系也引起了激烈的辩论。
They've been read as survivors of the apocalypse, an aging couple, two impotent friends, and even as personifications of Freud's ego and id.
有人认为他们是世界末日的幸存者，或是一对年迈夫妇，或两个无助的朋友，甚至是弗洛伊德“本我”和“自我”的化身。
Famously, Beckett said the only thing he could be sure of was that Vladimir and Estragon were "wearing bowler hats."
广为人知的是，贝克特称他唯一确定的是弗拉季米尔与爱斯特拉冈“戴着礼帽”。
Like the critical speculation and maddening plot, their language often goes in circles as the two bicker and banter,
同评论家的猜测及令人抓狂的情节一样，两个人物的语言常常像绕圈子，他们时而斗嘴时而打趣，
lose their train of thought, and pick up right where they left off:
迷失了思考的方向，又在他们停顿的地方开始。
We could start all over again perhaps.
或许我们可以重新开始。
That should be easy.
应该不难。
It's the start that's difficult.
难的是开头。
You can start from anything.
你可以从任何地方开始。
Yes, but you have to decide.
是的，但你得决定一个地方。
Beckett reminds us that just like our daily lives, the world onstage doesn't always make sense.
贝克特提醒我们，就像日常生活一样，舞台上的世界并不总是说得通。
It can explore both reality and illusion, the familiar and the strange.
它既可以探索现实，也可以探索虚幻，既可以探索熟悉的，也可以探索陌生的。
And although a tidy narrative still appeals, the best theatre keeps us thinking -- and waiting.
虽然人们仍喜欢有条有理的情节，但最好的戏剧让我们不断思考，不断等待。
