Beckett and Entourage (?)
Last night I went (with Sydney) to see two one man shows by Samuel Beckett produced by the Gate Theater in Dublin. They were part of the Lincoln Center Festival. Strangely enough all three plays being done (I didn’t get to see the first) were not originally written for the stage.
First Love with Ralph Fiennes was great. Very Beckett. Very Strange. But great. In it a man illustrated his strange interactions with a woman who he “loved,” whatever that means. In any Beckett the themes are subtly and carefully interwoven throughout the play. Fiennes was wonderful.
Eh Joe, with Liam Neeson, was good, but I had issues. Neeson’s character, Joe, never speaks, he simply listens to a voiceover narrated by a woman who seems to know all of his darkest secrets. It was originally written for television, and so it annoyed me that the way the play was presented was having Neeson’s face projected onto a large scrim while Neeson sat on a bed with his back essentially towards the audience. It seemed to me that if Beckett intended it to be for the screen, it might as well be for the screen.
In other, less cultured, news I’m into Entourage now. My mother kindly sent me the first season on DVD. That’s tonight’s activity.
