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| Beckett: Fragments The Boyfriend |
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| Thursday, 17 April 2008 | |
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Peter Brook’s production of ‘Fragments’, short plays by Samuel Beckett, that will run at the Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord until April 19, is a celebration of Beckett’s theatrical perfectionism, universality and precision. The programme of plays, written between the late 1950s and the 1970s, brings together ‘Rough for Theatre 1’, ‘Rockaby’, ‘Act Without Words 2’, ‘Neither’ and ‘Come and Go’. These fragments for theatre are self contained playlets that reflect a number of the themes Beckett raises in his best known plays, ‘Waiting for Godot’, ‘Endgame’ and ‘Happy Days’. They all deal with the search for a fleeting and relative truth, the opposition of hope and despair, the futility of human existence, change and decay. They take the form of monologues, duos and trios. Perhaps better than Beckett’s great plays they show his tendency to be reductive, in the end depriving the actor of words. But they also show Beckett’s theatricality and innate knowledge of the theatre and the way the actor, in spite of his words and props, is alone on the stage, to the extent that even his reality is thrown into doubt. Like Beckett’s best known plays, these pieces have a poetic structure with a rhythm of repetitions and silences. If Beckett broke the mould of realism to pave the way for new trends in dramatic writing, Peter Brook is known as one of the most innovatory directors of the second half of the century, having established his Centre International de Création Théâtral at the Bouffes du Nord, where such productions as ‘The Mahahabharata’ and ‘The Tragedy of Hamlet’ saw the light of day. At this stage in his career, Brook tends to work on short pieces that he develops in depth. It is not only the intensity of despair underlying human existence that attracts him to these plays, but the humour with which Beckett copes with it, as well as the playwright’s theatrical perfectionism and the way that he directs the actors through his writing. Brook has always worked with international casts, and with people who can contribute from their own theatrical baggage or traditions. The actors of ‘Fragments’, Jos Houben, Kathryn Hunter and Marcello Magni, all come from international backgrounds and are involved, one way or another, with the current theatrical avant garde. All have links with Complicite Theatre, the UK-based experimental company, and Jos Houben teaches at the influential Jacques Lecoq theatre school in Paris. Written in both English and French, ‘Fragments’ is performed in both languages: in English Tuesday to Fridays, and in French on Saturdays and Sundays. The Boyfriend The International Players, a well established amateur theatre company based in the western suburbs of Paris, has been performing musicals and the occasional straight play over the last 25 years. This April they are mounting Sandy Wilson’s 1950s bubbly piece of 1920s nostalgia, ‘The Boy Friend’. Along with its catchy tunes, the show, set on the French Riviera, has a simple plot where boyfriends are not always as humble as they seem, and in spite of parental problems and mistaken identity, there is a happy end where wealthy heiress is matched up with rich boy. Over the years the International Players have performed such popular musicals as ‘My Fair Lady’ and ‘Oliver’ and plays such as ‘The Importance of Being Ernest’ and ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’, always achieving a high standard. The group, from Paris as well as the Saint-Germain-en-Laye / Le Pecq area is truly international, with members from Ireland, the States, Canada and Australia, as well as from the UK and France.  April 10-12 at 8.30pm; April12 & 13 at 2.30pm Reservations: 06 31 58 62 85 Fragments: Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord 01 46 07 34 50 |
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