Synopses & Reviews
Review
"This perceptive, personal history of viewing Beckett's plays in production, supplemented by interviews with those artists who acted in and directed them, aims at articulating a poetics of Beckett performance." Choice
Review
"...the breadth and depth of [Kalb's] survey of a good-sized sample of those who have devoted themselves to realizing Beckett upon the stage (and screen and radio) give his book enormous value even as an introduction, albeit a special kind of introduction, to his theatre....The result of Kalb's delineation of Beckett's uniquely disciplined existential drama will, for many, be the discovery of an artist whose achievement was even larger and more original than they had thought. For others, there will be much to contend with in these pages, but no one who seeks to understand the process and the experience of his art upon the stage can afford to ignore them." John Swan, Journal of Dramatic Theory and Criticism
Review
"...the book has provided for the first time a theatrically driven analysis of the work of this century's greatest playwright." Rick Davis, Theatre Three
Review
"In his close attention to production values and in his ability to move from specific performances to general ideas about the nature of theatre and of interpretation, Jonathan Kalb presents a much needed addition to Beckett criticism." Linda Ben-Zvi, Essays in Theatre
Synopsis
This book takes a critical look at one of the twentieth century's most influential playwrights from the viewpoint of those whose job it is to give the work life on stage. From personal experience of over seventy productions, from numerous interviews with actors and directors, and in a rare conversation with the playwright, Kalb addresses the fundamental questions of whether the role of the performers and audience is different from that of performing other forms of theatre.
Synopsis
A critical look at the work of one of the twentieth century's most influential playwrights emerges from the viewpoint of numerous Beckett actors and directors and includes the author's personal experiences as well.
Table of Contents
List of illustrations; Acknowledgements; 1. Introduction; Part I. Acting: 2. Rockaby and the art of inadvertent interpretation; 3. Considerations of acting in the early plays; 4. Considerations of acting in the late plays; Part II. Directing: 5. Underground staging in perspective; 6. Eh Joe, Dis Joe, He Joe: toward a television icon; 7. The gamble of staging prose fiction; 8. Conclusion: the question of context; Part III. Conservations: Notes; Bibliography; Index.