ABSTRACT
Vivian Mercier described Waiting for Godot as a play which: has achieved a theoretical impossibility - a play in which nothing happens, that yet keeps audiences glued to their seats. On a wider philosophical level, Beckett is suggesting that people try to achieve meaning in a chaotic world through imposing their own formulated patterns and habitual behaviour and that they cling to these diversions as a means of avoiding the reality that their situation is hopelessly incomprehensible. In the early to middle stages of dementia people with dementia experience difficulty in carrying out activities of daily living without help. Disturbed sleep can also be a feature. These features and behaviours are common to many people in the early to mid-stages of dementia. Like many carers of people with dementia, Vladimir invariably takes responsibility for maintaining conversation, constantly trying to stimulate linguistic connection and responses that will sustain him.
