top of page

audio file

note from the dramaturg

it's a tough thing to want to explain music. still, humans do. and so i offer a playlist of sorts, as a way of my own explanation of my understanding of play, footfalls, rockaby and come and go. i don't know how much i have in common with beckett, but i have learned that the man was fervently obsessed with music, which i doubt i'm alone in finding relatable. crafting a playlist is often the first step in any process i have creatively, even if it's just for myself. i like a sonic landscape, and i also like to think a lot in the car. playlists are good for that. some of this playlist is rooted in what i perceived to be beckettian modernity - songs that don't necessarily scream "samuel beckett" in an obvious sense, but which share a common thread to themes of his work, especially the four plays we have chosen to work on.

 

beckett is a singular artist, but he is not alone in his desire to explore the extremities of the human experience, for better or for uncomfortable. the first half of this playlist focuses on this. john prine wrote "hello in there" at age 23, a simple but heartbreakingly wise tune about the isolation of old age.  david bowie, like beckett, was unable to stop writing, experimenting, and creating, even in the face of terminal cancer (his final album, blackstar, was released to critical acclaim two days before his death.)

 

the second half is dedicated to music which is biographically (or rather, dramaturgically) rooted in beckett's musical preferences and musicianship in his own right. beckett grew up in a household which not only valued listening to music, but also the learning of musical instruments. his plays are often perceived as musical scores, and he was known to use musical articulation to direct his actors. he actively befriended musicians and sought to broaden his musical horizons all the time.  there are claims from friends that beckett loved to drunkenly sing schubert at the top of his lungs. honestly? he sounds like he was fun.

Why Music Struck A Chord With Beckett by Sean Doran The Guardian, 2014

The Music of Beckett's Theatre by Catherine Lewis

Samuel Beckett Today, 2003

bottom of page