Often experiencing the world as an alien place, Samuel Beckett said there was only one theme in his life:
“To and fro in shadow, from outer shadow to inner shadow. To and fro between unattainable self and unattainable non-self”. (Knowlson, 631)
GAITKRASH invites the audience to find this theme reflected in their most recent Beckett montage featuring two of Beckett’s late plays, Footfalls (1976) and Not I (1972): one performed in extreme slow tempo, the other in extreme fast, one diminuendo, the other prestissimo, both exploring Beckett’s core theme: the self- enclosed self. “You can’t really get to the others.”
GAITKRASH have been staging Beckett’s plays for over 10 years. Their key concern is how to invite the audience to a place of receptivity that offers a unique and fresh experience of Beckett’s haunting pieces. Through collaboration at the intersection between theatre, sound art and space, Gaitkrash’s montage of Footfalls and Not I explores the tension between these two deeply powerful and evocative pieces, allowing them to resonate with each other in the atmospheric environments such as Plugd, Prim’s Bookshop & The Lord of Kingsale.
Available for touring. Please contact gaitkrash@hotmail.com
“The woman in Footfalls was specifically linked by Beckett with the young female
patient of Jung, of whom Beckett heard him speak in in 1935. The patient had ‘never
really been born’ […] May in Footfalls is Beckett’s own poignant recreation of the girl
who had never really been born, isolated and permanently absent, distant and totally
encapsulated within herself.” (James Knowlson)
“I knew that woman in Ireland. I knew who she was – not ‘she’ specifically, one single
woman, but there were so many of those old crones, stumbling down the lanes, in
the ditches, beside the hedgerows. Ireland is full of them. And I heard ‘her’ saying
what I wrote in Not I. I actually heard it.” (Samuel Beckett)
Performance History
Nov 2023 Beckett @ Plugd
Sept 2024 Beckett @ Plugd
Nov 2024 Beckett @ Prims
Oct 2025 Beckett @ The Kinsale Literary Festival
Reactions
“Extraordinary production- the context created a resonant and intimate setting –
superb acting and pacing. The live performed sound scape created an electric
charge through the performance.” Mary McCarthy (Dir., Crawford Art Gallery)
“Seeing those Beckett excerpts in a claustrophobic space with such powerful
performers created not just an intimate but a powerfully immediate experience, like
swimming inside the words and the worlds of the author.” Laurie Uprichard (Dir.,
Firkin Crane)
“An amazing show and fantastic performers…” (Audience member)
“Thank you and team for an outstanding performance. Everyone was unsettled,
impressed and astounded. Congratulations.” (Maureen Tierney, Festival Director)
“A night to remember.” (Audience member)
“Sound effects were so haunting” (Audience member)
Gallery
