Log24

Yesterday evening was, according to today’s Harvard Crimson, “the opening night of three usually neglected works by Irish playwright Samuel Beckett. The three plays, originally produced in April 2006 to commemorate what would have been Beckett’s 100th birthday, were part of the inaugural series for the New College Theatre. Robert Scanlan, a professor of theater who knew Beckett personally, directed the plays…. He said that performing Beckett as part of the New College Theatre’s inaugural series represents an auspicious beginning. ‘I personally think it sacralizes the place to perform Beckett here,’ he said.”

“The first play, ‘Words and Music,’ displayed the frustrations of the creative process: a writer, Joe, and Bob, a character personified by [a] musical trio, worked with and against each other to create art.

The duo first tried to capture love through words, but Joe’s attempts quickly descended into clichés.

Then, Joe and Bob tried to capture age, but they failed there too.

Finally, they tried to capture ‘the face’– a vision of a lost love. While they were able to achieve some meaning, this soon came to an abrupt end when the elderly man who’d been leading their creative endeavor simply stood up and walked away.”

— BONNIE J. KAVOUSSI