Jermyn Street Theatre's 2020 season opens with The Beckett Triple Bill
Preview by Lizzie Guilfoyle
JERMYN Street Theatre’s 2020 season opens with three of Samuel Beckett’s finest short plays – Krapp’s Last Tape, Eh Joe and The Old Tune.
The Beckett Triple Bill, which runs from January 15 to February 8, will be directed by Trevor Nunn and feature the stellar cast of Niall Buggy, Lisa Dwan, James Hayes and David Threlfall.
These works are as funny as they are poignant, as compelling as they are lyrical and, together, they demonstrate Beckett’s remarkable range, inventiveness, and wit.
In Krapp’s Last Tape, starring James Hayes, Krapp prepares to celebrate his 69th birthday by recording his annual tape. But first, Krapp pulls out an old tape recording, made on his 39th birthday – a recording which recalls an even earlier tape, made in Krapp’s youth.
Eh Joe features the voice of the celebrated Beckett specialist, Lisa Dwan, as she provokes and jokes with the ageing Joe, played by Irish film and theatre star, Niall Buggy.
The Old Tune is a rarely performed gem, adapted by Beckett from a radio play by Robert Pinget. With echoes of Waiting for Godot, two elderly men sit on a bench and reminisce. But are their memories playing tricks? It stars Niall Buggy and David Threlfall.
Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot changed the shape of European theatre. His other plays include Endgame and Happy Days. He won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1969.
Trevor Nunn was Artistic Director of the National Theatre and the Royal Shakespeare Company. At Jermyn Street Theatre he directed the acclaimed stage premiere of Beckett’s All That Fall.
James Hayes began his career in Laurence Olivier’s newly formed National Theatre at The Old Vic, appearing on-stage alongside the likes of Olivier, Maggie Smith, Anthony Hopkins and Diana Rigg. His career spans a six decade period in which he has worked with directors such as Peter Hall, Trevor Nunn, Greg Doran and Marianne Elliott. He has toured the world from Shanghai to New York and has the distinction of performing in more productions at the NT than any other living actor – over 50 plays across the decades.
Lisa Dwan is an Irish television, stage and film actor best known for her performances in and adaptations of the works of Samuel Beckett. Mentored by Beckett’s muse, Billie Whitelaw, she has performed his work at the Royal Court Theatre, in the West End, at the Barbican Centre and at the Brooklyn Academy of Music.
Niall Buggy won an Olivier Award for his performance in Terry Johnson’s Dead Funny in the West End and played Henry Sellers in Channel 4’s Father Ted. His other award winning roles include the lead in Brian Friel’s adaptation of Uncle Vanya at The Gate Theatre Dublin, for which he won an Irish Times Theatre Award and his performance of Casimir in Friel’s Aristocrats at Hampstead Theatre and on Broadway, which won him the Clarence Derwent Award, The Time Out Award and the Drama Desk Award. He also won best performance at the UK Theatre Awards for his role in Seán O’Casey’s Juno and the Paycock in the West End.
David Threlfall is best known for starring as Frank Gallagher in Channel 4’s Shameless. A Royal Shakespeare Company regular he shot to fame in the early 1980s in David Edgar’s acclaimed adaptation of Dickens’ The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby. His stage career has seen him perform lead roles at The National Theatre, The RSC, The Royal Exchange, Chichester Festival Theatre, The Almeida and The Young Vic, to name but a few.
Read more about Jermyn Street Theatre’s 2020 Season. Also at Jermyn Street: One Million Tiny Plays About Britain, a heartwarming collage of scenes about twenty-first century life (December 4, 2019 to January 11, 2020).
For more information or to book tickets, call the box office on 0207 287 2875 or visit www.jermynstreettheatre.co.uk/.