Only Beckett on menu
TAKE three Beckett short plays, with three different directors and seven actors and you have an evening of thought- provoking, indeed challenging, theatre.
The night starts with the strangely titled Rough for Theatre II. Two bland bureaucrats search for reasons they should, or shouldn’t, stop a character from jumping to his death through an open window. They examine records of his mundane, pitiful existence while revealing that their own lives are dreary and pointless. Jonathon Brown and Joseph Hallows are excellent as these officials, who could in fact be disinterested guardian angels, as they toil through what sounds like something they have done a thousand times before.
Michael Sams, the director, also played the subject of their deliberations, standing in silence, always with his back to the audience, contemplating the void in front of him. The officials speak about him, not to him.
There are echoes of the eternal boredom of Waiting for Godot’s Didi and Gogo among the dialogue. It was a very good way to start the evening.
Next on the menu was Come and Go, one of the shorter of Beckett’s plays, coming in at just over seven minutes. The sparse, Shakespearean- inspired dialogue and choreographed movement of the three women in the cast was honed to an impressive degree by director Madonna Davies.
Anne Coombe, Kath Hotschilt and Barbara White played the characters ( sisters? old friends?) perfectly as they subtly changed positions and exchanged brief dialogue. The audience is able to draw its own conclusions as to the circumstances and secrets that drew them to this point.
The final offering was one of Beckett’s most famous and frequently performed short plays, Krapp’s Last Tape. Todd Barty directed himself in this monologue, playing a decrepit, half- crazed old man, reliving his youthful exploits by listening to a series of tapes of his own voice recording his life of many years before.
His eccentricity and failing health are portrayed with a clown- like quality but whether the audience is likely to show any sympathy is debatable. He has become a pitiful parody of his former self. Barty’s elaborate set is quite spectacular.
There is no doubt that the three plays are demanding of the audience’s concentration throughout. However, if you like to think about theatre and indeed be willing to accept the challenge of understanding more about Samuel Beckett than you thought possible, this is a worthwhile undertaking. >> Three Courses in Beckett is playing at The Old Courthouse Theatre on the corner of Sturt and Stokes streets. It continues tonight, tomorrow and Sunday at 7pm. Tickets through fullthrottletheatre. com or on 0476 590 004.