Centenary of the birth of Samuel Beckett

Just hearing the name Beckett takes The Mole back many years to those days in school, dusty classrooms, cold winter mornings and English Literature lessons with that boring teacher whose name has been forgotten, probably along with most of what was learnt in the lessons!

But Beckett was different.  Not only was he not English but which gave him an edge on the others, but also why were we learning about an Irish playwright in English Literature lessons?  

That has probably also been lost in the mists of time, but his plays were different, even irreverent and they had great titles including Waiting for Godot, Endgame, Rockaby, Ohio Impromptu, Play, Catastrophe, Footfalls and Come and Go.  Now, The Mole does not pretend to be an authority on Beckett’s plays, but his plays do stir in the memory that they were very different!

This month Ireland celebrates the centenary of that very different playwright, Nobel Laureate Samuel Beckett, with Good Friday, 13 April 1906, being the actual date of his death, with a very extensive range indeed of Becket happenings, mainly in Dublin.  Don’t you love it when we celebrates the death of someone – it seems rather an oxymoron, but I have feeling Beckett would have enjoyed a celebration of his death!

In any case, there is no doubt that Beckett is recognised as a master of many genres from novels to dramas to extraordinary one-act plays and his works and his powerful influence on other artists will be showcased in Ireland throughout the month of April.

Among the many events planned for this outstanding festival are nine of Beckett’s stage plays at The Gate Theatre with directors Loveday Ingram, Charles Sturridge, Atom Egoyan, Robin Lefèvre, Alan Gilsenan, Walter Asmus and Michael Caven.

An Academic Symposium at Trinity College Dublin will bring together eminent scholars and artists from around the world to discuss the legacy and work of the College’s graduate, Samuel Beckett, in addition to an extraordinary exhibition of Beckett’s manuscripts and letters in Trinity College Library.

The Royal Hibernian Academy is holding an exhibition which will include two of America’s outstanding artists of the twentieth century together with three recent films of Beckett’s shorter plays and a new video installation will be on exhibition at the Douglas Hyde Gallery.

The Heraldic Museum courtesy of the National Library of Ireland is holding an audio/visual library of international performances of Beckett’s plays and prose and the National Photographic Archive is showing an exhibition of photographs by John Minihan.

A round table discussion of Beckett’s relationship with the visual arts will take place at The National Gallery.

Music recitals will take place at the National Concert Hall and RTÉ will broadcast Beckett’s plays along with radio and television documentaries on Beckett’s life and work.

There will be a film festival at the Irish Film Institute showing documentaries as well as the Beckett on Film Series.

The city scape will also see projections of quotations from Beckett’s writings onto buildings around Dublin City by American textual artist, Jenny Holzer.

There will also be a portrait exhibition by Cian McLoughlin of actors in characters from Beckett plays.

Later in the year, in the Millennium Wing of the National Gallery of Ireland, will feature an exhibition titled ‘Beckett and the Visual Arts’, tracing the development of Beckett’s interest in art.

So, if you are a Beckett fan or know of somebody who is, Ireland and in particular Dublin is the place to be the where Beckett is clearly the theme.

For further information can be obtained by visiting www.beckettcentenaryfestival.ie or from Tourism Ireland in Sydney either by visiting their web site at www.tourismireland.com.au, calling into their office on Level 5, 36 Carrington Street, right opposite Wynard Station or calling on 02 9299 6177.

Report by The Mole