Dublin Airport Authority tweets for Godot

Bowler-sporting chauffeur waits in arrivals for social media followers to claim their prize

Dublin Airport Authority employee Cormac O’Suilleabhain (right) gets into character, as Paul Nolan (left) and Liam Murphy look on. DAA is sponsoring the Gare St Lazare Players Ireland’s DTF production of Samuel Beckett’s ‘Waiting for Godot’. Photo: Mark Stedman/Photocall Ireland
Dublin Airport Authority employee Cormac O’Suilleabhain (right) gets into character, as Paul Nolan (left) and Liam Murphy look on. DAA is sponsoring the Gare St Lazare Players Ireland’s DTF production of Samuel Beckett’s ‘Waiting for Godot’. Photo: Mark Stedman/Photocall Ireland

Interminable boredom. Disjointed fragments of conversation. That terrible feeling you're going nowhere fast. But enough about travelling by air. This year's Dublin Theatre Festival features a production of Waiting for Godot, sponsored by the Dublin Airport Authority.

To tie in with its sponsorship, the DAA has begun "tweeting for Godot", running social media competitions to promote the Gare St Lazare Players Ireland/DTF production of the Samuel Beckett tragicomedy.

This week, a bowler-hat wearing “chauffeur” will turn up at arrivals in either Terminal 1 or Terminal 2 at certain times of the day holding a sign saying “Godot”.

The @DublinAirport account will tweet to alert people to the chauffeur’s presence and, to claim theatre tickets or shopping vouchers, members of the public must approach him or her saying “I’m Godot”.

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There is also a social media photography competition, with entrants asked to snap whoever – or whatever – is waiting for them and share it using the hashtag #whoiswaitingforyou in order to win return Aer Lingus flights to Paris (the city where Beckett wrote Godot and where it was first performed 60 years ago) and a €200 airport shopping voucher (which will help pass the time between security and boarding).

There are sadly no prizes for approaching the DAA-employed chauffeur and quoting the line “Mr Godot told me to tell you he won’t come this evening but surely tomorrow”.

Laura Slattery

Laura Slattery

Laura Slattery is an Irish Times journalist writing about media, advertising and other business topics