Samuel Beckett Trilogy: Not I, Footfalls & Rockaby Featuring Lisa Dwan

Friday, April 1, 2016 | 8:00 pm

Reynolds Industries Theater

Duke Performances’ presentation of Samuel Beckett Trilogy: ‘Not I,’ ‘Footfalls’ & ‘Rockaby’ featuring Lisa Dwan on Friday, April 1 & Saturday, April 2, 2016 has been CANCELLED; Duke Performances is not planning to reschedule the engagement. Ticket holders for this event will be automatically refunded for the full value of their tickets, plus service charges where applicable, via Duke University check. We apologize for any inconvenience that this cancellation causes; the circumstances, in this case, were entirely beyond our control. If you have questions about your refund please contact the Duke University Box Office via phone at 919-684-4444 or e-mail at tickets@duke.edu.

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Samuel Beckett’s one-person plays contain notoriously thorny and challenging roles, requiring actors who possess both Herculean stamina and a formidable expressive range. Irish actress Lisa Dwan first garnered acclaim as a Beckett interpreter a decade ago with a captivating performance of Beckett’s treacherous and beautiful one-person play Not I. The New York Times calls Dwan “an instrument of Beckett, in the same way saints and martyrs are said to be instruments of God … these plays, like dreams, stir up dormant parts of your mind that you don’t acknowledge during the day.”

A devoted acolyte of Beckett’s work and a longtime friend of his muse Billie Whitelaw, Dwan has assembled an evening of three one-person Beckett plays, fresh off of successful runs at the Brooklyn Academy of Music and the Royal Court Theatre. Not I features Dwan blindfolded and chattering breathlessly; Footfalls depicts a grieving daughter pacing metronomically outside her dying mother’s bedroom; and Rockaby converts a rocking chair into an emblem of eternal sleep. These plays find Dwan in her element, enchanting and deeply committed to the affective power of theater.