The brilliance of Waiting for Godot is that it is rediscovered by each new audience, which reads into the characters of the two tramps Vladimir and Estragon, and the meaning of their wait for Godot, a message that resonates with the mood of the moment. Like a theatrical Rorschach test.

A new production of Godot opened last night in London, starring Sir Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart. Meanwhile, in Westminster back rooms rehearsals have been fitfully under way for a rival version of Beckett's play, in which the tramps are played by a pair of (yet to be firmly cast) Labour MPs speculating on whether Gordon Brown will step aside as party leader, whether it's worth waiting, and whether there is anything they can do to precipitate an end to the endless uncertainty.

Waiting for Gordot: A Tragicomedy in Two Acts.

Estragon: I can't go on like this.

Vladimir: That's what you think.

Estragon: Well, shall we go?

Vladimir: Yes, let's go. (They do not move)

Estragon: Nothing to be done.

Vladimir: Let us not waste time in idle discourse! Let us do something, while we have the chance! It is not every day that we are needed. But at this place, at this moment of time, all mankind is us, whether we like it or not. Let us make the most of it, before it is too late!

Estragon: What do we do now?

Vladimir: Wait for Gordot.

Estragon: Ah.

Vladimir: Nothing you can do about it.

Estragon: No use wriggling.

Vladimir: The essential doesn't change.

Estragon: Nothing to be done.

(The End?)