The End by Samuel Beckett

Sat 31 Mar 2012

Theatre

Directed by Judy Hegarty Lovett. Performed by Conor Lovett.
photo by Judy Hegarty Lovett

"It is, as ever, a towering achievement of acting and directing." Sunday Independent

The End is a short story by Samuel Beckett which he began in english and finished in french. In it a man recounts an episode late in his life when, having been expelled from an institution of care, he finds his own way in the world.  He meets a variety of characters and situations before finally lying down to let life ebb away.  It is one of Beckett's most complete, most compelling and most beautiful works and is a Gare St Lazare favourite. 

Running Time 85 minutes.

Recently played at APAP New York, California International Theatre Festival, Brighton Pavilion UK, Project Arts Centre, Dublin, York University, UK, Auckland Arts Festival, New Zealand and Trinity College Dublin.  The End premiered at Kilkenny Arts Festival in August 2008.

"Conor Lovett’s command of the stage for this Gare St Lazare production of The End and The Calmative is so apparently effortless as to be relaxing, except that with Samuel Beckett one can never relax.  With The End the result is comedy, sly and biting, all the sharper for seeming to come out of hiding and ascending, or descending depending on one’s attitude to Beckett, to actual merriment."  IRISH TIMES

"At this stage, having seen nearly all of their profoundly moving interpretations of Beckett, all attempts at restrained objectivity go out the window. Conor Lovett has refined his technique and his empathy to a degree, which surely makes him one of the world's leading interpreters of the work." Sunday Independent

Presented under license from Curtis Brown Group with the kind permission of The Estate of Samuel Beckett.