Watt – Show Programme, Auckland Arts Festival 2020

Barry McGovern in

Watt

By Samuel Beckett

25–29 March • ASB Waterfront Theatre

Texts from the novel by Samuel Beckett Adapted & performed by Barry McGovern Director Tom Creed Set & Lighting Designer Sinéad McKenna Costume Designer Joan O’Clery Music Barry McGovern after Samuel Beckett, performed by Tonnta and recorded by Jack Cawley Production Manager Eoin Kilkenny Stage Manager Aoife Clarke Chief Electrician Gary Maguire Set Construction Grant Reynolds Rehearsal Photography Ste Murray Production Photography Pia Johnson This production was first performed at Arts Centre Melbourne as part of Melbourne International Arts Festival on 4th October 2018 with support from Culture Ireland.

SUPPORTED BY

1hr no interval COVER: PIA JOHNSON REHEARSAL IMAGES: STE MURRAY

Foreword Samuel Beckett wrote of Watt: “It is an unsatisfactory book, written in dribs and drabs, but it has its place in the series, as will perhaps appear in time.”

It was begun in Paris on 11 February 1941 and not completed until 1945. In the University of Texas at Austin there are six notebooks which are full of material that did not end up in the published book. These notebooks are extraordinary manuscripts, full of doodles, drawings and designs – mathematical and otherwise – which tell the tale of the book, so long in gestation. The novel (if that is the word) was written in English, Beckett’s last work in that language, before turning to French.

Beckett did, of course, write in both English and French later.

Watt is the great transition work in Beckett’s writing, the bridge between the Joyce-influenced early work and the great middle period of the late 1940s and 50s.

Most of the writing of Watt took place in the village of Roussillon in the Vaucluse area of south-eastern France between 1943 and 1944 when Beckett was on the run from the Gestapo, having worked with the French Resistance during World War II. Beckett described writing it as “only a game, a means of staying sane”.

The house of Mr Knott where Watt goes to work is based on two houses: mainly Cooldrinagh in Foxrock, County Dublin, the Beckett family home; and, to a lesser extent, the nearby Glencairn, the former home of Richard ‘Boss’ Croker, a retired Irish-American politician, and, more recently, the residence of the British Ambassador to Ireland. Watt’s journey on the train is from Harcourt Street Station in Dublin City to Foxrock on the old Harcourt Street railway line, most of which is now a tramline. The racecourse is Leopardstown.

After the war Beckett tried to have Watt published but it was rejected by all to whom it was sent. One publisher wrote “what is it that this Dublin air does to these writers?” It was eventually published in August 1953 in Paris by Olympia Press in collaboration with a group of young American expatriates – led by Richard Seaver – called Collection Merlin (or the Merlin juveniles, as Beckett called them). Later it was published by Grove Press in the USA and by John Calder in Britain. Watt was banned in Ireland in 1954. But, curiously, Ireland was the first country to publish extracts from Watt in the literary magazines Envoy and Irish Writing between 1950 and 1953. It was while touring Ireland as an actor in

Anew McMaster’s company in the early 1950s that Harold Pinter read an extract from Watt in one of those magazines and became one of Beckett’s greatest champions.

Watt is for many a difficult book to read, not least because of its seemingly endless lists and combinations and permutations.

But perseverance with it pays huge dividends and those who give it a chance will find great riches of language and philosophy and humour. It is one of the few books that have made me laugh out loud on public transport.

Watt the show is not Watt the book.

It is a distillation of the essence of the book. Much has had to be left out for a 50-minute show. My earnest hope is that those who enjoy the show, and particularly those who don’t, will read the book. It is unlike anything else you will have read.

This stage version of Watt is dedicated to the memory of my good friend, the great New York publisher and book lover, Dick Seaver, who died in 2009 and who, more than anyone else, was responsible for publishing Watt.

Barry McGovern

Biographies SAMUEL BECKETT (1906–1989) Writer

BARRY MCGOVERN Adapter & Performer

One of the most influential authors of the past century, Samuel Beckett was born in Dublin in 1906 and spent most of his life in Paris. His celebrated plays include Waiting for Godot, Krapp’s Last Tape, Endgame and Happy Days.

The first performance of Waiting for Godot in 1953 is considered one of the central events in the history of contemporary theatre. Among Beckett’s novels are Murphy, Molloy, Malone Dies and The Unnamable.

He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1969 and the Croix de Guerre for bravery and a “steely nerve” as an intelligence officer during the Nazi occupation of France. His prose and plays continue to appeal to artists beyond the realms of literature and theatre, inspiring work across the arts and humanities, ranging from sound and visual arts to philosophy, social criticism and ethics.

Barry McGovern is regarded by many as one of the leading interpreters of the work of Samuel Beckett. He has played Lucky, Estragon and Vladimir in Waiting for Godot, Clov in Endgame, Willie in Happy Days, Henry in Embers, Fox in Rough for Radio 2, Words in Words and Music, Cream in The Old Tune and the one-man shows I'll Go On (from Three Novels) and First Love. He also directed All That Fall. He frequently gives readings of Beckett's poetry and prose and has recorded the novels Molloy, Malone Dies and The Unnamable.

He is a former member of the Abbey Theatre Company and the RTE Players. Recent stage work includes A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the Abbey, The Price at the Gate, Woyzeck in Winter at the Dublin Theatre Festival and London’s Barbican, Krapp’s Last Tape at the Edinburgh International Festival and Waiting for Godot and Endgame with Center Theatre Group in Los Angeles.

Film and TV includes Joe Versus the Volcano, Braveheart, Waiting for Godot, Dear Sarah, The Treaty, Citizen Lane, Miracle at Midnight, The General, Royally Ever After, Game of Thrones, The Tudors, Vikings, Na Cloigne, Aithrí/Penance and Wild Mountain Thyme. He has taught at the universities of Los Angeles (Davis) and Notre Dame and has written in various books and journals on the work of Samuel Beckett.

TOM CREED Director Tom Creed is a theatre and opera director based in Dublin. His extensive work as a theatre director over the past ten years includes productions for the Abbey Theatre, Gate Theatre, Rough Magic, Thisispopbaby, his own company Playgroup and a range of independent Irish companies, which have played in Ireland, the UK, Europe and the USA. He was nominated for Best Director at the Irish Times Theatre Awards in 2007.

A previous production of Watt with the Gate Theatre was presented at the Dublin Theatre Festival, Galway Arts Festival, Edinburgh International Festival, Perth International Festival, the Barbican Centre in London, the Public Theatre in New York and on tour in the USA. Other productions include Trade by Mark O’Halloran, which won Best New Play at the Irish Times Irish Theatre Awards 2011, Sure Look It, Fuck It and I Am Tonie Walsh with Thisispopbaby,

Futureproof by Lynda Radley with The Everyman at Cork Midsummer Festival and Project Arts Centre, and Ray Scannell’s solo shows The Bluffer’s Guide to Suburbia at Cork Midsummer Festival and Dublin Theatre Festival, Deep, on an Irish Tour, and Mimic, which toured extensively in Ireland and abroad from 2007 to 2013.

Opera productions include Griselda and The Tales of Hoffmann with Irish National Opera, Acis and Galatea, Susanna’s Secret and The Human Voice with Opera Theatre Company, Britten’s Owen Wingrave with the Opéra National de Paris and Opera Collective Ireland, the world premiere of Donnacha Dennehy’s The Hunger at Opera Theatre of St Louis, Brooklyn Academy of Music in New York, and the Abbey Theatre in Dublin, the world premiere of Annelies van Parys’s Private View with Muziektheater Transparant at Opera Vlaanderen, Operadagen Rotterdam, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Grand Théâtre

de Luxembourg and on tour), and the world premiere of Jürgen Simpson’s air india [redacted] with Turning Point Ensemble in Vancouver.

Private View was awarded the FEDORA Rolf Liebermann Prize for Opera in 2014, Best Production at the Armel Opera Festival in Budapest in 2015, and was named as one of 14 notable productions of the last three years, “which are aesthetically innovative and reflect new developments in this genre” by Music Theatre NOW in 2016.

Tom was Festival Director of Cork Midsummer Festival from 2011 to 2013, and was nominated for an Irish Times Irish Theatre Award in 2012 “for original and dynamic use of local spaces at Cork Midsummer Festival.” He has previously been Theatre and Dance Curator of Kilkenny Arts Festival and Associate Director of Rough Magic Theatre Company.

SINÉAD MCKENNA Set & Lighting Designer

JOAN O’CLERY Costume Designer

EOIN KILKENNY Production Manager

Sinéad McKenna is an award-winning designer for theatre, opera, dance, live performance and film. She has received two Irish Times Irish Theatre Awards for Best Lighting Design and a Drama Desk Award nomination for Outstanding Lighting Design for a Musical. Recent theatre includes: Insane Animals (HOME Manchester), Teenage Dick (Donmar), Parade (Théâtre du Châtelet, Paris), Asking For It (Abbey Theatre, Dublin/Birmingham Rep), The Approach (Everyman, Cork/Edinburgh Festival), Howie The Rookie – Winner of Irish Theatre Award for Best Lighting Design (Olympia Theatre, Dublin/BAM Next Wave Festival, NY), Epiphany, Furniture (Druid Theatre); Drama at Inish, Two Pints, The Unmanageable Sisters (Abbey Theatre, Dublin); The Children, Beginning, Assassins (Gate Theatre, Dublin); Angela’s Ashes: The Musical (UK and Ireland Tour), Ladies And Gents – Winner of Irish Theatre Award for Best Lighting Design (Semper Fi, Ireland). Opera includes: Griselda, The Tales of Hoffman (Irish National Opera); Don Giovanni, The Magic Flute, The Marriage of Figaro (Opera Theatre Company); La Traviata (Malmo Opera), The Rape of Lucretia (Irish Youth Opera), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Opera Ireland), Prodijig (Cork Opera House). Film includes: Grace Jones: Bloodlight and Bami. Television includes: Bovinity: Tommy Tiernan; Fitting In: Des Bishop.

Joan O’Clery is a costume designer working in theatre and film. She has won Best Costume Design at the Irish Times Theatre Awards three times, and has twice been nominated for Best Costume Design at the Irish Film and Television Awards. She has originated the costumes for several world premieres by major Irish writers including Seamus Heaney, Brian Friel, Tom Murphy and Frank McGuinness.

Her costume designs are regularly seen at the Abbey Theatre, Gate Theatre and other stages around Ireland. Highlights of her work include Woyzeck in Winter and The Second Violinist for Landmark Productions, Macbeth at Shakespeare’s Globe, Macbeth and She Stoops To Conquer at the Royal Shakespeare Company, An Enemy of the People at the Gate Theatre, DruidMurphy for Druid Theatre Company, and The Unmanageable Sisters at the Abbey Theatre. Her screen work includes King of the Travellers, Swansong, Snap, Out Of Innocence, I, Dolours, Rose Plays Julie, the RTE TV series Finding Joy, and the forthcoming feature film Beards. Most recently she designed the costumes for the Irish National Opera production of Madama Butterfly, Faith Healer for the Abbey Theatre, and The Little Foxes for the Gate Theatre, Dublin.

Eoin is a freelance Project and Production Manager. He trained as a production manager with the Rough Magic SEEDS programme, working on their productions in Dublin, Belfast and New York. Since then he has worked as a freelance tour and production manager. He spent three years at the Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh during the Festival Fringe as well as working in venues and festivals across Ireland and UK, including the Abbey Theatre and National Concert Hall. He was Artist Liaison Assistant for Dublin Fringe Festival and Hub Producer for LIFT – London International Festival of Theatre. He has worked on productions for Landmark Productions, Dead Centre, Collapsing Horse and Rise Productions. Most recently he toured Class to Galway International Arts Festival and Edinburgh Festival Fringe and Maz and Bricks on an Irish Tour He is a product of UCD Dramsoc and has completed a MA in Producing at The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama.

AOIFE CLARKE Stage Manager Aoife Clarke is a freelance Stage Manager and one third of Wandering Star Theatre Company with whom she produced Lex Talionis (A Tale of Vengeance & Feathers), bedbound and Fleabag. Stage management credits include: How It Is: Part 2 (Gare St. Lazare), The Same (Corcadorca), The Bluffer’s Guide To Suburbia (Raymond Scannell), The Shakespeare Sessions (Cyclone Rep.), The Lonesome West (The Everyman), In Clouds (Peter Power), Punk Rock (Granary Theatre), Neon Western (Conflicted Theatre), Dancing At Lughnasa (The Everyman), American Idiot: The Musical (CIT Musical Society), Debris (Wandering Star) and God Bless The Child (PTP).

Aoife holds a BA in Drama & Theatre Studies (UCC) and an ALCM (TD) (London College).

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