Waiting for Lefty

Waiting for Lefty is a play by Clifford Odets (1906-1963)[1].

The original text

Written in 1935, it consists of a series of related vignettes, the entire play is framed by the meeting of cab drivers who are planning a labor strike. The framing uses the audience as part of the meeting.

While this was not Odets' first play, this was the first to be produced. It was staged by the Group Theatre, a New York theatre company founded by Harold Clurman, Cheryl Crawford and Lee Strasberg, of which Odets was a member. It had its British premiere in 1938 at the Unity Theatre, whose production so impressed a visiting contingent of the American Group Theatre that Unity Theatre was given the British rights to the play.

Translations and adaptations

Adapted by Gladys Thomas with the title The Time is Now for South African performance.

Performance history in South Africa

1991: Performed in adapted form as The Time is Now at a mini-festival linked to a Theatre Action Group (Cape Town) seminar, the play directed by Albert Thomas.

1993, The Time is Now performed on tour in the Cape Peninsula and at the Grahamstown Arts Festival by Getwize Players, directed by Albert Thomas once more.