«The play is full of echoes»

The directorial vocation of Samuel Beckett

Abstract

Samuel Beckett’s activity as director of his own plays has received critical attention relatively late within the composite field of Beckett studies: if the first stagings signed by the playwright date back to the second half of the 1960s, the essays that examine them – apart from the direct testimonies of his assistants, who appeared on the sidelines of the plays themselves – do not precede the 1980s. Beckett’s experience as a stage director tends to be considered secondary in his artistic itinerary, overshadowed as it is by his extraordinarily innovative dramatic production. One fact, however, seems to be overlooked: as his creative process proceeds, writing practice and stage practice are set to become increasingly interrelated dimensions, until the moment when the author decides to take possession of the instruments offered by the stage and to attribute to himself the role of director.  Through the examination of his theatrical notebooks and revised texts, this paper aims to reflect on the design devices developed by Beckett during the staging of his plays. The analysis of the productions signed at the Schiller Theater in Berlin will reveal the peculiar characteristics of Beckett’s directing practice, focused on a rhythmic texture that interconnect gesture and movement, stage space as well as the verbal matter.