Page "Waiting for Godot" Paragraph 32

Although Beckett refused to be drawn on the backgrounds of the characters, this has not stopped actors looking for their own motivation.

Jean Martin had a doctor friend called Marthe Gautier, who was working at the Salpêtrière Hospital, and he said to her: "' Listen, Marthe, what could I find that would provide some kind of physiological explanation for a voice like the one written in the text?

' said: ' Well, it might be a good idea if you went to see the people who have Parkinson's disease.

' So I asked her about the disease ... She explained how it begins with a trembling, which gets more and more noticeable, until later the patient can no longer speak without the voice shaking.

So I said, ' That sounds exactly what I need.

'" " Sam and Roger were not entirely convinced by my interpretation but had no objections.

" When he explained to Beckett that he was playing Lucky as if he were suffering from Parkinson's, Beckett said, "' Yes, of course.

' He mentioned briefly that his mother had had Parkinson's, but quickly moved on to another subject.