Waiting for Lefty

by Clifford Odets

One of the most celebrated and significant plays of the modern American theatre, WAITING FOR LEFTY by Clifford Odets is set in the Depression era and deals with the exploitation of the working classes. First presented by the famous Group Theatre, the play has become a symbol of its times and a beacon for many soon-to-be famous playwrights. The action of the play is comprised of a series of varied, imaginatively conceived episodes - five in all - which blend into a powerful and stirring mosaic. The cast , which can be modified, calls for thirteen men and two women. Just a flexible, unit set is required. The "Acting Edition," published in soft cover by Dramatists Play Service, has a list of characters preceding the text and a complete prop list following the play. The text includes explicit stage directions.

Genres: Plays, Drama, Theatre, Classics, School, Fiction, Read For School

32 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1935

About the author

Clifford Odets (July 18, 1906 – August 14, 1963) was an American playwright, screenwriter, and director. Odets was born in Philadelphia to Louis Odets (born Gorodetsky) and Pearl Geisinger, Russian- and Romanian-Jewish immigrants, and raised in Philadelphia and the Bronx, New York. He dropped out of high school after two years to become an actor. In 1931, he became a founding member of the Group Theatre, a highly influential New York theatre company that utilized an acting technique new to the United States. This technique was based on the system devised by the Russian actor and director Constantin Stanislavski. It was further developed by Group Theatre director Lee Strasberg and became known as The Method or Method Acting. Odets eventually became the Group's primary playwright.

Reviews

[blurry · Rating 4 out of 5]

Prof. Müller supremacy

[Seyed Mohammad Reza Mahdavi · Rating 3 out of 5]

نمایشنامه : در انتظار لفتی
کلیفورد اودتس
ترجمه فاطمه خسروی
نشر یکشنبه
تعداد صفحات : 40

[Troy Tradup · Rating 4 out of 5]

In a preface to his collected plays, written when he was 33, Clifford Odets wrote: "If you have acquired by now the distressing sense that I am situating myself historically, correct! Talent should be respected."

Writing something like that about one's own self takes some serious stones, but the fact that Odets already had six major plays ready to be collected (four of them had appeared on Broadway in a single year!) lends some weight to his self-assessment.

The first of the four 1935 plays, Waiting for Lefty, is hardly a play at all, but rather a series of vignettes based on the New York City cab driver strike of the previous year. Odets was closely associated with the Group Theatre, birthplace of "Method" acting, and he almost might be called a Method playwright. Waiting for Lefty is a raw, rousing, angry call to arms (workers of the world, unite!) that must have hit 1935 audiences like a literal punch to the face.

It's almost impossible to read the play today (for me, at least) without hearing all the characters sound vaguely like Jimmy Cagney, the men and women alike. But damn, some of those speeches still burn.

"Your boss is making suckers outa you boys every minute. Yes, and suckers out of all the wives and the poor innocent kids who'll grow up with crooked spines and sick bones. Sure, I see it in the papers, how good orange juice is for kids. But damnit our kids get colds one on top of the other. They look like little ghosts. Betty never saw a grapefruit. I took her to the store last week and she pointed to a stack of grapefruits. 'What's that!' she said. My God, Joe — the world is supposed to be for all of us."

Or this exchange:

— "The world is an armed camp today. One match sets the whole world blazing in forty-eight hours. Uncle Sam won't be caught napping!"

— "The say 12 million men were killed in that last one and 20 million more wounded or missing."

— "That's not our worry. If big business went sentimental over human life there wouldn't be big business of any sort!"

Odets also manages to capture the simple wistfulness of lives never fully realized, weighed down by poverty or oppression or just plain exhaustion:

"I'm glad we never got together," a young man tells the woman he's been seeing. "This way we don't know what we missed."

The play ends with a breathtaking scream of rage that brought audiences to their feet and, in later regional productions, got actors arrested right off the stage:

"Don't laugh! Nothing's funny! This is your life and mine! It's skull and bones every incha road. Christ, we're dying by inches! For what? ... Working class, unite and fight! Tear down the slaughter house of our old lives! Let freedom really ring. ... Hear it, boys, hear it? Coast to coast! Hello America! ... We're storm-birds of the working class. Workers of the world ... our bones and blood!"

Waiting for Lefty isn't Odets' best play, or probably even his most important play. But man, does it hit like a white-hot bolt from the sky, even today. Maybe especially today.

[Graham G · Rating 4 out of 5]

STRIKE!

[André · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this play as part of the English Literature syllabus in the university where I'm studying, and I was not expecting it.
This is a real story, a story of the common man, but also of the common woman, who actually play a huge part, even if it doesn't seem like it at first glance. It touches a bit of everything, and how money influences a load of things in our lives, corruption, deceit, poverty, etc..
I can't wait to discuss it in class!

[Luckaaa · Rating 3 out of 5]

very conflicted read for me

[leni swagger · Rating 3 out of 5]

Strike!!!!

[Neil · Rating 3 out of 5]

A series of vignettes around the plight of unionized laborers in 1935. One such scene in the middle between a doomed couple was particularly touching how they joked with each other to hide the pain, but some other scenes felt a little too contrived (e.g. the surgeon).

[Nima · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was in the third grade, when I first came across this one. My mother was playing Agate Keller, and at the time, other than the fact it was set in The Great Depression, I had no idea, what it meant. As an adult, now I do. I would go on record to say, that it's possible one of the most in depth looks at human nature during the depression, and especially now, it wouldn't be the worst thing in the world to go back and read it.

[Laurence Li · Rating 5 out of 5]

odat odets

[Emma Kay Krebs · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

[Sotiria Lazaridou · Rating 4 out of 5]

such an important read!

[gasp · Rating 3 out of 5]

While Waiting for Lefty may have seemed impressive and captivating when it was first performed, it has lost its luster over the years. Two major issues I have with this script is both the audience plants and the lack of characterization. Since this is a one act that typically has a runtime of one hour and 10 minutes (give or take 10 minutes), time is scarce and must be allotted carefully, but I believe that this play does not use its allotted time effectively.

Throughout the play, various stage directions are given. The audience laughs. The audience says “STRIKE!”. While many have pointed out that this, at the time, was revolutionary and incited the audience- such as the account of Stella Adler’s viewing of this show- to me, in the modern age, this reads as a cheap and disingenuous attempt to get us to sympathize with the characters and their situation. If the situation is dire and compelling enough- which in reality, it was and still is- then we should not need audience plants to cover for writing that is not compelling enough to generate interest and fervor naturally in the audience.

Additionally, the characterization presented in the scenes themselves is not sufficient enough for me to care about these characters and their plights. I can see that the vignettes are supposed to not directly focus on characterization and instead focus on building the underlying message/theme of workers uniting against systems that oppress them- brought to head by the the one-note villain Fatt- but by the end, I still couldn’t find myself invested in the characters enough to care about their plight. This play has the seeds needed to cultivate proper, interesting, and compelling characters, but it unfortunately falls flat. I feel as if ultimately, abandoning the vignette style in favor of focusing on developing a core cast of characters would do this play justice and truly get me to care about the message.

To me, this feels as if Odets was attempting to capture the same invisible aspect of theatre later described in The Empty Space in its Holy Theatre portion- a powerful, unseen force unique to the theatre that sweeps through the audience and ignites them fiercely. Unfortunately, this force is not one that can be generated at will and must come naturally. A classic is a piece that resonates universally through all time periods, while Waiting for Lefty is a piece that, while it may have seemed impressive in 1935, to me 90 years later reads as a disingenuous attempt at sending a half-baked message, and in my opinion should not be held in the same vein as other pieces of the time such as those by somebody such as Noel Coward.

[Lara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Clifford Odets represents his characters in dynamic situations filled with action. Waiting for Lefty is an agitprop play dealing with the social issues of the working class. As it is a radical play that can be acted out anywhere at any time, it is dynamic and fast-paced. It deals with hard-hitting issues and is great for anyone that wants to broaden their horizons on topics such as social injustice and social issues. It is an impactful play that draws from people's emotions and makes people think of global problems that are shown through the individual.

[Feargal McGovern · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short easy read of a script for a play depicting radical unionists attempting to organise a strike but going up against union beaucrats as well as the bosses, as well as the pressures of family life influencing workers in their decisions to strike or not - I especially liked in this though how one of the women threatened to leave her man if he wouldnt toughen up and strike for higher wages.
Good example of working class struggle in theatre, and american too - albiet from the 30s when US trade unions really meant business

[Will Schmitt]

A very richly crafted collection of like 5 different scenes that epitomize the 1934 cab driver’s/working class’s yearning to go on strike. Lots of depth in the scenes and complex characters. An interesting piece of political theatre that holds a less explicit but interesting power if it were to be performed today. Lots to think over in just this 30 page script

[Jojo · Rating 2 out of 5]

This isn't exactly a play...more like a series of (I saw someone use this word so I'm stealing it) vignettes about a bunch of workers discussing the state of the world and wanting to strike. In many ways I would say this is a clear product of the time but it also probably could easily still be relevant today however it just didn't quite resonate for me.
Grade: D

[Samiyah · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this playwright. I'd seen one of the vignettes performed in my acting class by quite a few actors over the years and I'd always loved it. I haven't had a chance yet to work on Odets but he is by far one of my favorite playwrights.

[Nathalie Franco · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had to read this for a class and it is not something I would usually pick up. It was interesting enough to read through but I wouldn’t recommend it to someone who isn’t interested in politics, capitalism, or the relationship between these institutions and the institution of marriage.

[Patricia · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a play that tells the stories of many's struggles which culminate in their debate and decision to go on strike. The moral of the play is something like "don't wait for change happening, act and make your own changes".

[Haver · Rating 3 out of 5]

Important show about the reason to stand up for what is right. Otherwise one will get nowhere in their life. It is not necessarily a call to action to strike, but to know what you stand for and why you live the way you do.

[Michelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

I understand the choice of the episodes in the play, but I feel like we don’t get a clear view of many of the characters. This is an interesting script with potential. It does seem to be cut short.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5/5 stars.

[Faithe · Rating 2 out of 5]

another required read for my theatre course at uni

propaganda, through and through

[Zoe Senese-Grossberg · Rating 3 out of 5]

i can't believe lefty was dead the whole time

[Sharla · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read for American Imagination: From the Gilded Age to the Cold War. Excellent propaganda from the time period--and almost as relevant today.

[Steve · Rating 1 out of 5]

What a god-awful play. The best thing about this play is that it's 30 pages.

[Paula]

Mentioned p 262 S. Lewis’ It Can’t Happen Here

[Sue Davis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Glad I read this. Class struggle, exploitation of the workers, divide and conquer.

[Tia]

Fuck capitalism