Beckett's Masterpiece Showed That Less Is More – It Made Me Fearless.

Until I turned 12, I was educated in the French educational framework, where theatre meant Molière, Corneille, Racine. Attending a play typically involved productions like The Sound of Music or My Fair Lady. Then, a decision was made that I would switch to school in England. So, at thirteen, I arrived at Westminster School. It was 1968, and my horizons expanded.

I went to see 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. In terms of music, I was quite advanced – I already knew all the experimental sounds that had been happening. I’d seen the Mothers of Invention. I’d watched numerous performances. But I didn’t know there was stuff like this. I quickly realized that, just like in music, there was a whole new world out there.

I am unsure how good the French was, but it wasn’t important what they were expressing. It was just so abstract and vibrant, with a sort of pent-up tension. And then, of course, it all explodes with Pozzo and Lucky’s arrival. The performance was put on by senior students, including Nigel Planer as Lucky. He was a commanding figure on stage. And he has to deliver that extraordinarily baroque monologue. In French. It was astonishing.

I loved the idea that very little needed to occur, you know? That an event took place and then it continues endlessly and then you have the young messenger at the end stating that Godot won’t be coming today. It spoke about temporality and activity and narrative. Or their absence.

We had been taught all these guidelines about what theatre was, but they were irrelevant here. I was absolutely fascinated by how little was going on. Much later when I was mixing records, I would try to turn them into something similar. When a new instrument came in, I’d pull out other instruments and deliberately isolate them. So you really heard that piano or that guitar or whichever element. That idea of less is more … I learned that with Godot.

And yet it possesses a narrative. It really does. I mean, they are fully realised characters. They are vibrant, Vladimir and Estragon, in their love for each other, like an long-term partners. I don’t know how my life would have turned out if I did not attend that show. To that institution and that play then. It just sparked a realization in me.

We were released on weekend days, and I started going afternoon shows at the Royal Court every time there was a new production. So you would see works by modern playwrights. But the entry point to all of this was Godot.

I have so little recollection of the actual show, except I know that it was never boring – it had me at the height of anticipation. What I took away is that there need not be any constraints. It definitely influenced how I worked with the bands that I signed to Ze Records. I even had the Waitresses write a song around “I Can’t Go On, I’ll Go On”. I just told them: “I want a song with this title.”

I think it boosted my confidence, too, because you don’t need to worry about failure if you embrace the playwright’s philosophy.