Composed in French as En attendant Godot between October 1948 and January 1949, published in 1952, and premiered on 5 January 1953 at the Théâtre de Babylone in Paris under Roger Blin.
Subtitled 'a tragicomedy in two acts' in Beckett's own English translation (premiered in London in 1955), it follows Vladimir (Didi) and Estragon (Gogo) waiting by a tree for Godot.
Across two cyclical acts the pair encounter the domineering traveller Pozzo, his rope-bound servant Lucky, and a messenger boy who twice reports that Godot will arrive tomorrow.