Glasgow’s Citizens Theatre have announced that one of the new productions sure to prove a highlight of their reopening season is an exciting new production of Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot, starring Matthew Kelly and George Costigan.
A co-production with Liverpool Everyman & Playhouse and Octagon Theatre Bolton, the piece will be directed by Citizens Theatre’s artistic director, Dominic Hill, premiering on the venue’s main stage from 20 February to 14 March, 2026.
Set in an anonymous, shifting landscape, Waiting for Godot follows two men, Vladimir and Estragon, as they wait for someone who may never come. As they pass the time with scraps of conversation, moments of tenderness and flashes of dark humour, their story becomes a moving reflection on what it means to keep going in a world that rarely offers answers.
Beckett’s timeless play endures as one of the defining works of the 20th century. Absurd, funny, heartbreaking and brilliant, it premiered on 5 January 1953 and was quickly regarded as having changed the rules of theatre forever; one Beckett scholar later described it as, ‘a play in which nothing happens, that yet keeps audiences glued to their seats’.
The casting of Kelly and Costigan follows a number of high-profile pairings in the roles of Vladimir and Estragon in recent years, double-acts such as Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen, Bill Patterson and Brian Cox and last year, Ben Whishaw and Lucian Msamati.
Celebrated stage and screen actor and Olivier Award-winning Kelly will make his Citizens Theatre debut in the new production while Costigan returns to the Citz having starred in some of the theatre’s most notable productions of the last 15 years, including Crime & Punishment, This Restless House, and Long Day’s Journey Into Night – the final professional production on the main stage before refurbishment began back in 2018. Costigan previously played the role of Estragon in Waiting for Godot at Manchester’s Library Theatre in 2008.
Both masters of their craft, Waiting For Godot reunites Kelly and Costigan after 22 years, they last appeared together on stage in John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men, which ran at the Savoy Theatre on London’s West End from October to December 2003, following a national tour. Kelly went on to win the Olivier Best Actor Award for his portrayal of Lennie in the production, while Costigan’s performance of George was acclaimed by critics and audiences alike.
Described by Citz’ artistic director Dominic Hill as an “enduring masterpiece”, Waiting For Godot runs at the Citizens Theatre from 20 February to 14 March 2026. Tickets on sale 30 July here. It then transfers to Liverpool Everyman from 17 March to 4 April 2026. Tickets here. Bolton Octagon dates have yet to be announced.
READ MORE | Absorbing and heart-wrenching, Ben Whishaw and Lucian Msamati are perfect in Waiting For Godot, a production to get lost in… here.
