Samuel Beckett Archives - North West End UK

Waiting for Godot – Theatre Royal Haymarket

9Dec

By Mark DavorenNo Comments

London

Waiting for Godot – Theatre Royal Haymarket

Director James MacDonald breathes new life into Samuel Beckett’s absurdist 1953 tragicomedy about two down at heel men waiting for a mysterious figure to appear, with a fresh and engaging interpretation that focuses more on the inherent humour within the play rather than just the disconsolate existentialism with which it is usually associated. Opening to a dystopian landscape bereft of any positive discernible feature other than a leafless tree, we encounter Estragon/Gogo (Lucian Msamati) and Valdimir/Didi (Ben Whishaw), as they wait for Godot. Whilst their connection to each other is unstated, there is an endearing affection between them that pervades their ongoing conversations about something and nothing, which distracts from the obvious bleakness of their everyday lives. The appe...

14May

By Mark DavorenNo Comments

North West

Krapp’s Last Tape – Unity Theatre

Marking the welcome return of Graeme Phillips to Unity Theatre and the directorial chair, with the support of Assistant Director Izzie Major and Producer Peter Ward, Krapp’s Last Tape, written by Samuel Beckett, holds a firm place in Phillips’ heart. On his sixty-ninth birthday, Krapp (Nick Birkinshaw), as has become his custom, hauls out his old tape recorder to review one of the earlier years, and make a new recording commenting on the events of the previous twelve months. Whilst his younger self speaks to reveal an idealistic fool, will the passage of time reveal the kind of fool he has become? Almost seventy years since it was written, this one-act play remains as relevant – perhaps more so – in 2024, when we all more readily identify with its themes of isolation, reflection, and...

Celebrated Samuel Beckett festival returns to Liverpool

14May

By NewsdeskNo Comments

NEWS

Celebrated Samuel Beckett festival returns to Liverpool

Actor and director Adrian Dunbar brings Beckett: Unbound 2024, an international festival celebrating the works of Dublin-born writer Samuel Beckett, to Liverpool this summer from 30th May – 2nd June 2024. Highlights include world premieres and specially commissioned shows staged in Toxteth Reservoir and other imaginative city locations. Following on from the success of Beckett: Confined in 2022, this unique biennial festival, split across Liverpool and Paris, explores Beckett’s fascination with communication and technology’s traversal of time and distance, across a programme of theatre, music, film, dance, photography, and discussion. The programme presents an exciting blend of Beckett’s work and delivers audiences with the opportunity to celebrate one of the 20th century’s most cele...

Samuel Beckett in Confinement – University of Liverpool

7May

By Mark DavorenNo Comments

North West

Samuel Beckett in Confinement – University of Liverpool

Beckett is a little bit like the proverbial buses: there’s never any when you’d just like one then suddenly they all come along at once. In the case of Beckett: Confined, a three day-festival of Samuel Beckett’s plays, associated musical performances, and lectures exploring the politics of closed space as a reading of our times, you couldn’t really want for much more. The programme – brought together by Unreal Cities in association with the University of Liverpool’s Institute of Irish Studies, The Keough-Naughton Institute for Irish Studies at the University of Notre Dame's Keough School of Global Affairs, and Culture Ireland– presents an exciting blend of Beckett’s work, including multiple performances of some of his most rarely performed plays alongside a musical series, all pre...

Samuel Beckett in Confinement: Festival 6th – 8th May 2022

30Apr

By Mark DavorenNo Comments

NEWS

Samuel Beckett in Confinement: Festival 6th – 8th May 2022

There’s no more waiting for Beckett with tickets now available for a weekend festival of the works of Samuel Beckett, exploring the politics of closed space as a reading of our times. The University of Liverpool’s Institute of Irish Studies and University of Notre Dame in association with Unreal Cities Theatre Company is pleased to present Samuel Beckett in Confinement, a three-day festival of Samuel Beckett’s plays, associated musical performances and lectures. Samuel Beckett (1906-1989) was one of the 20th century’s most celebrated playwrights and authors, winning the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1969. His works examine what it means to be human, in all its absurd, existentialist and sometimes bleak comedy. The programme, curated by celebrated actor and director Adrian Dunbar a...

Footfalls & Rockaby – Jermyn Street Theatre

8Nov

By Caroline WorswickNo Comments

London

Footfalls & Rockaby – Jermyn Street Theatre

Writer Samuel Beckett wrote ‘Footfalls’ between March and December 1975. It premiered at the Samuel Beckett Festival in 1976 at the Royal Court Theatre, when he directed the play himself. From the amount of stage directions written for this play, it is clear that Beckett had a very strong vision of how these plays should be presented. ‘Rockaby’ was written and performed later in New York in 1981. The accurately titled ‘Footfalls’, is aptly titled. A woman called May is pacing the floor with a need to hear her footfalls as she paces. It’s as though the rhythmic sound helps her to make sense of her thoughts. We hear May’s mother’s voice in the background, talking and occasionally counting the steps before May wheels around and begins pacing in the opposite direction. Beckett stipulated in...

Beckett in Birkenhead – Christ Church, Oxton Village

28Oct

By Mark DavorenNo Comments

North West

Beckett in Birkenhead – Christ Church, Oxton Village

I adore Samuel Beckett, so I jumped at the chance to see two of his short plays being performed. There’s a perception that his writing – like the man – is complex but in reality, it is a theatrical experience that credits its audience with being intelligent and allows them to interpret accordingly. Tonight’s pieces also highlighted the continuing relevance of his work in capturing the consistency of human emotion and behaviour over time, or as he may well have put it: plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose. Directed by Daniel Taylor and produced by Pauline Fleming, we open with Play as we observe three heads poking out from funeral urns – Man (Phil Perez), W1 (Fleming), and W2 (Paula Simms) – in some kind of purgatory as they recall the events of an affair that connects them although ...

21Jun

By Gaurav SinghNo Comments

London

Happy Days – Riverside Studios

Celebrating 60 years of Samuel Beckett’s much-acclaimed play, this special revival of ‘Happy Days’ has Lisa Dwan take on its titular role of Winnie, a woman buried to her waist in sand as she goes about her daily routine, often remarking to herself that indeed, “this is a happy day”. Directed by Trevor Nunn and designed by Robert Jones, this production is a stark reminder of the drudgery and futility of the domestic lives we live, caught in a never-ending cycle of repetition and relief as we seek refuge from the same relationships that drive us to the edge. The two-act structure reinforces the central theme of passage of time and how Winnie, through her slow and inexplicable sinking into the sand, is unable to escape the cruelty and disappointment of her perfect life, especially her marria...

Full Cast and Creative Team Announced For the 60th Anniversary Production of Happy Days at Riverside Studios

20Jun

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

NEWS

Full Cast and Creative Team Announced For the 60th Anniversary Production of Happy Days at Riverside Studios

Anthology Theatre, in association with Riverside Studios, announces full cast and creatives for the 60th anniversary production of Samuel Beckett’s masterpiece Happy Days, directed by Trevor Nunn. Simon Wolfe plays Willie, joining the previously announced Lisa Dwan as Winnie. Completing the creative team are designer Robert Jones (Fiddler on the Roof, Quiz), lighting designer Tim Mitchell (Upstart Crow, Kinky Boots), sound designer Johnny Edwards (Moorcroft), production manager Matt Towell (Waitress, Come From Away), and costume supervisor Kate Hemstock (The Full Monty, We Will Rock You). The production opens on 20th June at Riverside Studios, where the playwright rehearsed Endgame in 1980 and Waiting for Godot in 1984, with previews from 11th June, and running until 25th July 2021. ...