Waiting For The Dramatic Payoff

Anyone who has sat through a performance of Samuel Beckett's absurdist comedy entitled Waiting For Godot (or Richard Wagner's romantic tragedy, Tristan und Isolde) knows that extreme patience is a prerequisite for being able to enjoy these works. Wikipedia's description of patience reads as follows: "Patience (or forbearing) is the state of endurance under difficult circumstances, which can mean persevering in the face of delay or provocation without acting on negative annoyance/anger; or exhibi...