Événement

Three plays by Samuel Beckett Directed by Stephen Haley

The Last Great Modernist Playwright
Rockaby, Ohio Impromptu, and Footfalls

These three plays all deal with going home. In this case 'home' being the archetypal home - the home we yearn for and never quite fulfill. Beckett calls it the unspeakable home. Something so deep it is beyond language or even human expression.

These plays are each about the end of things, the characters exist almost ghostlike, teetering on the threshold of the new and unexpected world that is coming. Every end becomes a beginning, as Mr. Beckett draws us to the ragged edge of what is knowable and leaves us staring into the implacable realm of all that is not knowable. In the later part of his career, Samuel Beckett sought to 'reduce' and his work reached new minimalist form. In the stark text there is room for vast human moments.

These are the types of plays one usually gets to see only in the theaters of dense metropolitan areas, where diversity in art and literary legacies are supported by large and varied populations. Newburyport is fortunate to have Stephen Haley as an artistic leader in the community. His background in process style play directing, from his days with Jerzy Growtowski at The Polish Lab Theatre, and his experience in Depth Psychology allow, or perhaps compel, Steve to venture where few men or women dare to go these days in theatre. These attributes combine with his passion for and deep knowledge of Beckett's work to assure us a rich and incomparable experience in the Late Modernist Theatre of Samuel Beckett.