Beckett at the Kennedy Center - directed by Peter Brook

The Kennedy Center offers a very unusual opportunity this month to see selected short plays by Samuel Beckett directed by Peter Brook, one of the most admired and influential living theater artists. (You will see excerpts from his film Marat/Sade in class in a couple of weeks.)

As you can tell from Godot, Beckett's method was minimalism. He kept cutting down the essentials of theatrical presentation until all that was left was a single figure on the stage. And then he kept on reducing after that. So this show is only for those who have a lot of patience, the ability to pay very close attention to small gestures, and a fascination for the most experimental forms of theater.  For those who do, it's an extraordinary event.

C.I.C.T./Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord, Paris
production of
Fragments
By Samuel Beckett
Directed by Peter Brook and Marie-Hélène Estienne

Revered director Peter Brook, returning to the Kennedy Center for the first time since 1973, brings together five short works by playwright Samuel Beckett for his theater collection, Fragments. Brook's pared-down style is the perfect complement to Beckett's lean examinations of the absurdity of life. The works, Rough for Theatre I, Rockaby, Act Without Words II, Neither, and Come and Go, combine "cruelty, laughter, and unexpected tenderness" (The Daily Telegraph). "They give us Beckett distilled. And in the hands of Brook…the sharp observation of human conduct is lovingly delivered" (The Financial Times).

Apr 14 - 17, 2011

• Eisenhower Theater
• 1 hour
• $25.00 - $85.00

Tickets and Schedule | About the Program