Theatre goers in the South East have the opportunity this summer to see two brand new productions of short works by Ireland’s Nobel Prize Winning author, Samuel Beckett in the evocative surroundings of Waterford’s Theatre Royal.
Ben Barnes, Artistic Director of the Theatre Royal will direct Waterford’s Carrie Crowley in Footfalls and Arthur Riordan in Krapp’s Last Tape. Rarely seen in Ireland in new productions in recent years as a result of The Gate Theatre’s dominance of the Beckett canon, the Theatre Royal is delighted to premiere these new productions for its audience in Waterford and beyond.
Footfalls is a moving and poetic distillation of the relationship between May and her mother evoked by two voices as May’s lone figure metronomically paces the stage, picking at the seams of their ghostly bonds.
Carrie Crowley returns to her home city for a five-week residency to play the role of May. Carrie has performed extensively on stage and her return to the Theatre Royal is like coming home for this Waterford gaeilgeoir. Carrie’s roles extend to television and radio, but her first love, theatre has seen her not only star in productions of The Separation, Improbable Frequency, 84 Charing Cross Road, The Adventures of the Wet Senor but also as writer, director and producer of Waterway.
Krapp’s Last Tape is a moving and beautiful evocation of human failure. Performed by renowned actor and playwright Arthur Riordan, 69-year-old Krapp listens to a recording of his 39-year-old self only serving to further exacerbate his sense of aloneness and a life filled with regret.
Arthur is a founding member of Rough Magic Theatre Company and has performed with most of Ireland’s leading theatre companies, including The Abbey and Peacock, Druid, Gaiety, Corca Dorca, Lane Productions and Pan Pan.
His latest musical, The Train, a fictional celebration surrounding the highly controversial “contraceptive train” of 1971, has been critically acclaimed during its run at Dublin’s Abbey Theatre and Belfast’s The MAC.
Recent stage appearances include The Kings of the Kilburn High Road with Livin’ Dred/Verdant productions, and Swing, with Fishamble, the New Play Company. He has worked extensively with Rough Magic, most recently in Peer Gynt, The Importance of Being Earnest and Solemn Mass for a Full Moon In Summer.
Ben Barnes, Theatre Royal Artistic Director, is delighted to bring “these two plays from the master of the economically expressed drama of the human heart” to one of Ireland’s oldest theatres. “The wonderful acoustics and atmosphere of the Theatre Royal work in tandem to heighten the intensity, desolation, loneliness, confusion and regret experienced by these two conflicted characters.”
A Taste of Beckett, featuring two short masterpieces, Footfalls starring Carrie Crowley and Krapp’s Last Tape starring Arthur Riordan and directed by Ben Barnes Theatre Royal Artistic Director is at Theatre Royal Waterford from June 21st to July 21st.
(June 21st Preview / June 22nd, 23rd, 29th & 30th, July 6th, 7th, 13th, 20th & 21st)
Time: 8pm. Tickets: €17 / €15 concession
Booking: 051 874402 or www.theatreroyal.ie