“On Beckett”
Francis J. Greenburger Mainstage
September 26 – November 4th 2018
Starring Bill Irwin, guest appearance by Finn O’Sullivan
The Irish Repertory Theatre
132 West 22nd Street
New York, NY 10011
Box Office: 212-727-2737
By Brad Balfour
He dodges, swoops, proclaims and dons a bowler like some hatted imp on The Irish Repertory’s main theater stage. No that not wasn’t the actions of the late Samuel Beckett — who would never did anything quite like that throughout his life and famed literary career. Rather it was the efforts of veteran actor Bill Irwin. The 68 year old slides up there onto stage to pay homage to his intellectual mentor and to offer audiences through his explications and hosannas about his experience with words in general, yes, specifically through the words generated by the late Nobel prize-winning playwright and author.
At this performance of “On Beckett” — during its New York Premiere — Irwin made his very personal exploration of Beckett a very public demonstration. Through Irwin’s presentation, Beckett’s words become more mere verbally articulation — they are truly acted upon. This actor, clown, and comedian not only examines the man as a man and his words as theater but as to how his long experience of immersing himself in them — he has helped defined his art and life. And now he shares that with audiences through this show. Irwin imbues the words with physical action and his actions charge the words. Its the fundamental interplay that any great theater actor learns to make work on a stage before a live audience. Through it, this Tony Award-winner validate his existence just as Beckett’s work calls into question the why of our existence.
A favorite son of Dublin, Beckett furthered the reputation of Irish writers as leaders of the avant-garde exploring dark themes through absurdity and black humor. Besides “Godot,” he wrote such plays as “Endgame” and “Krapp’s Last Tape,” which further stretch the boundaries of what serves as a theater and not. Similarly, Irwin uses Beckett’s visionary minimalism to its best effect here.
Through his long professional history, this MacArthur, Guggenheim, and Fulbright Fellow proves to be remarkable, even incredible conceptualist given his long experience especially with “Waiting for Godot” in which he starred with Nathan Lane). But that’s hardly a dent in a resume which includes starring roles in such Broadway, Off-Broadway, and regional productions as “The Iceman Cometh,” “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf (and won a “Tony® Award for Best Actor in a Play), “The Goat, or Who is Sylvia,” and many more.
Irwin had several character roles on television and in such films as “Rachel Getting Married,” “The Grinch Who Stole Christmas,” “Eight Men Out,” “Interstellar,” “Stepping Out,” among others.
Originally developed at San Francisco’s American Conservatory Theater (ACT) in consultation with Artistic Director Carey Perloff, it was produced at the Strand Theater in January 2017. Then it was workshopped at Vineyard Theatre and Seattle’s Cornish College of the Arts. This show doesn’t need electronic music, light-generated art, drones, virtual or augmented reality, animation, multimedia performance, or such enhancements to modern stage presentations. Oddly, because it’s such a simple exercise, the show, it illuminates the importance of Charlie Corcoran’s set, Michael Gottlieb’s lighting design: and the sounds produces by M. Florian Staab. “On Beckett” doesn’t have to resonate for its words or motions but through a combination of sound and images on stage that makes it the experience that live theater should be.