The Samuel Beckett Biennale, a 12-year festival spanning Ireland and Britain, will feature experimental performed readings of the playwright's works, including a highly anticipated 2036 production of Krapp's Last Tape starring Samuel West. Organised by Seán Doran through Arts Over Borders, the festival aims to reclaim Beckett as an Irish writer, exploring his complex relationship with his homeland.
2036 Krapp's Last Tape: A Time Capsule Performance
In 2036, actor Samuel West, then 69, will perform Krapp's Last Tape, using a recording of his own voice made in 2006 when he was 39—the same age as Krapp when he made his recording. Similarly, Richard Dormer will perform the same play in 2038, using a recording currently locked in a BBC vault. These commissions highlight the Biennale's innovative approach, with Doran noting, 'Beckett would never have expected it.'
Beckett's Irish Identity: A Complex Legacy
Despite being one of Ireland's most famous exports, Beckett's Irishness has been debated. After graduating from Trinity College Dublin in 1927, he emigrated to Paris and never lived permanently in Ireland again, not setting foot in the country for the last 21 years of his life. He wrote many works in French, leading critic Vivian Mercier to quip, 'Samuel Beckett is an Irishman but not an Irish writer.' His alienation stemmed from his Protestant upbringing and Ireland's theocracy, which he found stultifying. When clerical censorship affected the 1958 Dublin theatre festival, Beckett banned Ireland from staging his plays for two years.
Festival Locations and Experimental Productions
The Biennale will unfold at locations significant to Beckett's life, including Enniskillen, Belfast, Dublin, Folkestone, Reading, and Snodland. The opening in Enniskillen is apt, as Beckett was studying there during Ireland's partition. Events include a performed reading of Not I by opera soprano Claire Booth, directed by Rufus Norris at Reading University in September, and Love, Sam, a staging of Beckett's letters in Wexford. Doran's experimental 'laboratory' approach uses performed readings rather than full-scale productions, allowing flexibility within the strict estate rules managed by Beckett's nephew Edward.
Past and Future Highlights
Previous events include a Krapp's Last Tape in Greystones with Malcolm Sinclair performing opposite an AI-generated younger voice, and an Ulster-Scots translation of Waiting for Godot in Derry. The 2028 Biennale will feature an international Waiting for Godot with homeless actors from France, a Slavic country, Italy, and England, directed by Marco Martins. Early-bird tickets for the 2036 and 2038 performances have already sold hundreds, despite no confirmed dates or venues.
Reclaiming Beckett for Ireland
As Ireland modernised—secularising, decriminalising homosexuality in 1993, and legalising divorce in 1995—it reconciled with Beckett's doubt and irony. Anne Clarke of Landmark Productions recalls the 1991 Gate Theatre festival staging all 19 of his plays, calling it 'a national reclamation of one of our greatest writers.' The Biennale solidifies this reclamation, presenting Beckett as a quintessential Irish European.
