Beckett's Masterpiece Revealed That Less Is More – It Gave Me Courage.

Until I turned 12, I was educated in the French educational framework, where theatre meant classical French playwrights. Attending a play usually meant shows such as The Sound of Music or My Fair Lady. Then, a decision was made that I would switch to an English school. So, at age 13, I arrived at Westminster School. It was the late sixties, and the world opened up.

I attended a school production of Waiting for Godot performed in French in a small room with a modest platform, and I was sitting at the back. Musically, I was pretty sophisticated – I was familiar with all the experimental sounds that had been emerging. I’d seen the Mothers of Invention. I’d watched numerous performances. But I didn’t know there was stuff like this. I suddenly became aware that, just like in music, there was a completely different realm out there.

I am unsure how fluent the French was, but it really didn’t matter what they were expressing. It was just so abstract and vibrant, with a kind of built-up suspense. And then, of course, it erupts with Pozzo and Lucky’s arrival. The show was staged by older boys, including a talented actor as Lucky. He was such a presence on stage. And he must perform that extraordinarily baroque monologue. In French. It was astonishing.

I loved the idea that nothing really had to happen, you know? That one thing happened and then it just goes on and then you have the young messenger at the end stating that Godot is not arriving today. It addressed temporality and activity and narrative. Or the lack thereof.

We had been instructed all these rules about what drama was, but none of them applied here. I was absolutely fascinated by the minimal action. Much later when I was producing music, I would attempt to transform them into something similar. When a fresh sound came in, I’d remove other instruments and intentionally highlight them. So you clearly perceived that piano or that guitar or whatever it was. That idea of less is more … I grasped that with Godot.

And yet it has a story. It really does. I mean, they are fully realised characters. They are so alive, the two protagonists, in their mutual affection, like an old married couple. I don’t know how my life would have evolved if I hadn’t gone that performance. To that institution and that play then. It just sparked a realization in me.

We were let out on weekend days, and I began attending afternoon shows at the theatre venue every time there was a new production. So you would see works by modern playwrights. But the gateway to all of this was Godot.

I have minimal memory of the actual show, except I know that it was never boring – it had me at the height of anticipation. What I learned is that there need not be any constraints. It definitely influenced how I collaborated with the artists that I signed to my label. I even had the Waitresses compose a track around “I Can’t Go On, I’ll Go On”. I just instructed them: “I want a song with that name.”

I think it made me more fearless, too, because you don’t need to worry about setbacks if you embrace Beckett’s worldview.