Beckett on Film
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Beckett on Film was a project aimed at making film versions of all nineteen of Samuel Beckett's plays, with the exception of the early and unperformed Eleutheria. This endeavour was successfully completed, with the first films being shown in 2001.
The project was conceived by Michael Colgan, artistic director of Dublin's Gate Theatre. The films were produced by Colgan and Alan Moloney for the Irish broadcaster RTÉ, the British broadcaster Channel 4 and the Irish Film Board. Each had a different cast and director, drawn from theatre, film and other fields.
Ten of the films were screened at the 2000 Toronto International Film Festival and some shown on Channel 4 television. On Wednesday, February 6, 2002, the series won the Best TV Drama award at the sixth The South Bank Show awards at the Savoy Theatre in London. The films never enjoyed a general cinematic release, but, in September 2001, all nineteen were screened at the Barbican Centre in London. They were also released in a number of videos and as a four-DVD box set, comprising a souvenir programme and numerous additional features.
A documentary video, titled Check the Gate: Putting Beckett on Film and directed by Pearse Lehane, was released on 5 February 2003. It followed closely the project's work.[1]
Credits
Waiting for Godot
The play was originally published in 1952. Of directing the film version, Michael Lindsay-Hogg said, "Beckett creates an amazing blend of comedy, high wit and an almost unbearable poignancy in a funny yet heartbreaking image of man's fate. With the camera, you can pick those moments and emphasise them, making Beckett's rare and extraordinary words all the more intimate [...]. The play is about what it is about. Samuel Beckett would have said it's about two men waiting on the side of the road for someone to turn up. But you can invest in the importance of who is going to turn up. Is it a local farmer? Is it God? Is it salvation? Or is it simply someone who just doesn't show up?
"The important thing is the ambiguity, the fact that it doesn't really state what it is. That's why it's so great for the audience to be part of it: they fill in a lot of the blanks; it works in their imaginations.
"For me, Beckett's view of the world is quite sadly accurate. We are all really just bugs in the carpet." "[2][3]
The cast was composed of the following:
- Vladimir: Barry McGovern
- Estragon: Johnny Murphy
- Pozzo: Alan Stanford
- Lucky: Stephen Brennan
- The Boy: Sam McGovern
- Director: Michael Lindsay-Hogg
- Running Time: 2 hours
Endgame
Original play published 1957.
- Hamm - Michael Gambon
- Clov - David Thewlis
- Nagg - Charles Simon
- Nell - Jean Anderson
- Directed by Conor McPherson
- Running Time - 1 hour 24 minutes
Happy Days
Original play published 1960.
- Winnie - Rosaleen Linehan
- Willie - Richard Johnson
- Directed by Patricia Rozema
- Running Time - 1 hour 19 minutes
Act Without Words I
Original play written 1956.
- Mime - Sean Foley
- Directed by Karel Reisz
- Running Time - 16 minutes
Act Without Words II
Original play written 1956.
- A - Pat Kinevane
- B - Marcello Magni
- Directed by Enda Hughes
- Running Time - 11 minutes
Krapp's Last Tape
Original play written 1958.
- Krapp - John Hurt
- Directed by Atom Egoyan
- Running Time - 58 minutes
Rough for Theatre I
Original play written late 1950s.
- A - David Kelly
- B - Milo O'Shea
- Directed by Kieron J. Walsh
- Running Time - 20 minutes
Rough for Theatre II
Original play written late 1950s.
- A - Jim Norton
- B - Timothy Spall
- C - Hugh B. O'Brien
- Directed by Katie Mitchell
- Running Time - 30 minutes
Play
Original play written 1963.
- M - Alan Rickman
- W1 - Kristin Scott Thomas
- W2 - Juliet Stevenson
- Directed by Anthony Minghella
- Running Time - 16 minutes
Come and Go
Original play written 1965.
- Vi - Anna Massey
- Ru - Siân Phillips
- Flo - Paola Dionisotti
- Directed by John Crowleyis
- Running Time - 8 minutes
Breath
Original play written 1969.
- Voice - Keith Allen
- Directed by Damien Hirst
- Running Time - 45 seconds
Not I
Original play written 1972.
- Auditor/Mouth - Julianne Moore
- Directed by Neil Jordan
- Running Time - 14 minutes
That Time
Original play written 1975.
- Listener and Voices - Niall Buggy
- Directed by Charles Garrad
- Running Time - 20 minutes
Footfalls
Original play written 1975.
- May - Susan Fitzgerald
- Voice - Joan O'Hara
- Directed by Walter Asmus
- Running Time - 28 minutes
A Piece of Monologue
Original play written 1980.
- Speaker - Stephen Brennan
- Directed by Robin Lefevre
- Running Time - 20 minutes
Rockaby
Original play written 1981.
- Woman - Penelope Wilton
- Directed by Richard Eyre
- Running Time - 14 minutes
Ohio Impromptu
Original play written 1981.
- Reader and Listener - Jeremy Irons
- Directed by Charles Sturridge
- Running Time - 12 minutes
Catastrophe
Original play written 1982.
- P - John Gielgud
- A - Rebecca Pidgeon
- D - Harold Pinter
- L - ?
- Directed by David Mamet
- Running Time - 7 minutes
What Where
Original play written 1983.
- Bam - Sean McGinley
- Bem, Bim and Bom - Gary Lewis
- Directed by Damien O'Donnell
- Running Time - 12 minutes
Criticism
Many aspects of the plays' interpretations and performances have been critiqued by fans of Samuel Beckett, stating that not enough focus was placed on the words, and that many important aspects of the plays were lost because of it. Others have said that the plays were over-acted or over-directed, and that at times the cinematography was overdone. (The "Checking the Gate" documentary addresses some of the naysaying, allowing at least one knowledgeable critic to have his say.)
For instance, Waiting for Godot, Beckett's most popular and successful play, is highly dependent on the two main characters, Estragon and Vladimir, and their likability. However, the humor of the characters' words was not as pronounced as some fans would have liked.
In general, though, reviews were more laudatory. Michael Dwyer, film correspondent of The Irish Times dubbed it "Commendably ambitious and remarkably successful, a truly unique collection". [4]
