Beckett Back at Lincoln Center

The missionary wing of the Holy Church of Samuel Beckett, otherwise known as Dublin’s Gate Theatre, has again arrived in New York to spread the gospel. Back at Lincoln Center after its 1996 marathon, Michael Colgan brings three works not originally written for the stage. The first is a television piece entitled‘Eh Joe’ starring Liam Neeson, the second is a novella entitled ‘First Love’ starring Ralph Fiennes, and the third is an abridgement of three novels called ‘I’ll Go On’ starring Barry McGovern. Check out a detailed article from the NYTimes here.

Lincoln Center Festival 08

Once again Lincoln Center has put together an eclectic line-up for their annual summer festival from July 2-27. Actual performances are down to 57 this year compared to 93 last year. This is mostly due to the RuhrTriennale’s production of Bernd Alois Zimmermann’s 1960 opera, Die Soldaten. Apparently, it is one of the most complex and expensive contemporary operas to mount (it’s got a 110-piece orchestra). It will take Lincoln Center over a month to load the production into the Park Avenue Armory.

As for theatrical offerings, the festival will open with the National Theater of Scotland’s production of The Bacchae starring Alan Cumming and directed by John Tiffany. The festival closes with the Gate Theater of Dublin’s triptych Gate/Beckett. The evening consists of three one-man shows of Beckett pieces not conceived for the theatre. Liam Neeson stars in Eh Joe (a TV piece), Barry McGovern stars in I’ll Go On (adapted from three novels) and Ralph Fiennes stars in First Love (a novella).

Other offerings include Laurie Anderson’s new piece, Homeland, William Forsythe’s Impressing the Czar performed by the Royal Ballet of Flanders and Sarajevo-born composer Goran Bregovic returns with his Wedding and Funeral Band, which was at the festival 2 years ago.