Happy Days for Beckett on tour

OUT of Dublin have they come, trailing clouds of glory, to New York last month, Kilkenny last weekend, with London, Sydney, Melbourne and Kiev to come. And go. On.

The Gate Theatre's Beckett Festival in New York received rave review after rave review, as all 19 plays in the Beckett repertoire were staged between July 29th and August 11th.

It was billed as the centrepiece of the Lincoln Center Festival, which began this year. It turned out to be its sparkling jewel in the crown, which "in its scope, power and wit I was this year's great theatrical event".

The quotation is from a three page spread in the current Time magazine. It begins: "They came to, the plays in limos or on rollerblades, in bright summer colours or basic Beckett black ... their attention was devotional, they laughed and sighed and never dared cough ... During curtain calls, their faces beamed at the actors with rapture and gratitude. In the lobby afterwards, they waxed ecstatic while comparing notes on the plays and buying T shirts that read, `Gate Theatre - Beckett Festival'."

That's just for openers.

The article, by Richard Corliss, goes on: "The Gate productions correct the canard that Beckett's work is boring, mired in gloom, misery and dismay ... these were passionate and often darkly funny pieces." Referring to the plays, he said "there was meaning and magic in the Gate productions".

Inevitably, too, there's a lapse into the Oirish. The texts came alive, he said, "like the corpse at a Dublin wake ... the actors, their voices tinged with the guilt (perhaps he meant `gilt') of Irish laughter, restored the author to his homeland". You can hear the angels sing. Certainly, Mr Michael Colgan - the Gate Theatre's director.

Mr Corliss singles out the actors David Kelly (Krapp's Last Tape), Donal O'Kelly (Act Without Words I), Alan Stanford and Barry McGovern (Waiting for Godot, Endgame), for "two weeks of terrific theatre". And then moves on to the "great wonder" of the festival: Happy Days, which he described as "the supreme modern test for an actress". Rosaleen Linehan, who played Winnie, "met the challenge brilliantly".

Speaking to The Irish Times, Ms Marie Rooney, deputy director at the Gate, said the visit had been "a resounding success", with New Yorkers "fascinated" by the plays, and people "from all over the US" attending every one of the 19 productions.

In addition to the international invitations listed above, they have also been asked to bring the Beckett plays to various US cities.

Godot, Krapp's Last Tape, Endgame, and Happy Days have been invited to return to New York.

The Lincoln Center has issued an open invitation to the Gate to bring whatever it wants, whenever it wants, to the festival there again.