The End program (2011)

THE END FEBRUARY 17 – MARCH 11 2011

Malthouse Theatre presents a Belvoir production

THE END ....

By Samuel Beckett Director Eamon Flack Lighting Designer Teegan Lee Stage Manager Bec Allen Performed by Robert Menzies

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BECKETT THEATRE, FEBRUARY 17 - MARCH 11, 2011 The Belvoir production of The End opened at Belvoir St Downstairs Theatre on 16 April, 2010 Eamon’s thanks: to Rita Kalnejais for coming in to rehearsals; to Callum Flack and Anna Crooks for the hospitality; to Ralph Myers and Chris Mercer for the design conversation; to Malthouse Theatre for hosting rehearsals.

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DIRECTOR’S NOTE ....

The End is not a play, it's a novella. In the half decade after the Second World War the little-known Irishman Samuel Beckett wrote an extraordinary body of work, all of it in French, amongst which were a suite of four novellas (The End, First Love, The Expelled and The Calmative), his famous trilogy of novels (Malloy, Malone Dies and The Unnamable) and, in 1949, his first play: Waiting for Godot. (Actually he did write a play at uni decades before but it wasn't very good). The fiction works all share a beguiling thickness of detail and preternaturally musical first-person speech, but the novellas in particular feel like they want to be theatre rather than literature. They have the concentrated time-frame of the later plays and a hidden compositional form which, like a music score, is a curiosity on the page but alive out loud. The End in particular seems to want to be performed rather than simply read. Not only does it have that completeness and fullness of direct experience you want from a performance, it also becomes funnier and more awful off the page than on. So maybe it is a kind of play after all.

Rob’s performing it exactly as written: 22 pages of prose in 19 paragraphs. We haven’t cut or added a word. The first half of the story is in 17 paragraphs, the shortest of which is a single sentence; the second half is two long paragraphs. Other than the title, The End, no other details are given. There are no stage directions and no setting: the

white cross and the door were our invention for the Downstairs Belvoir season in 2010. The narrator is unnamed, and we don’t know who he’s speaking to or where he is. He may even be dead. As the narrator of The Calmative (who may be the same man) says, “we are needless to say in a skull.”

Early in rehearsals Rob told the story of a friend describing her father’s restlessness on his death-bed, his constant shifting and recalibrating. Rob’s friend said the man was trying to find a position in which to die. Another friend of Rob’s disagreed and said the man was trying to find a position in which to live. The narrator of The End is in a similar struggle: in the final moments of his life he must either gather his restlessness and surge back to life, or subside into silence. All he has available to him in this struggle are words, and with all his might in a thick list he summons the concrete details of his life as if the accumulation may prolong his existence.

There’s great kindness at the heart of this writing. Beckett articulates what it is impossible for this worn-out, speechimpeded man to articulate. It's as though Beckett is standing there with his squalid narrator throughout, his hard, patient gaze unmoving and one hand, gentle, on the man’s shoulder as he struggles to tell his story. Rob, too, has a hard, patient gaze and a gentle hand. Also like Beckett, he puts up with nothing that isn’t fundamentally honest. I’m fortunate that working on this show with Rob has been a kind of vital conversation about life and theatre with one of the best. - EAMON FLACK Image credits: Heidrun Löhr

Eamon’s thanks: to Rita Kalnejais for coming in to rehearsals; to Callum Flack and Anna Crooks for the hospitality; to Ralph Myers and Chris Mercer for the design conversation.

SAMUEL BECKETT WRITER Nobel Prize winning playwright, author and poet Samuel Barclay Beckett was born in Ireland in 1906.

He was educated at Portora Royal School and at 17 entered Trinity College, Dublin where he studied English, French and Italian, graduating in 1927 with a Bachelor of Arts.

In 1928 he was appointed lecteur d’anglais at École Normale Supérieur in Paris and while there was introduced to the renowned Irish writer James Joyce, helping him research the book that would eventually be published as Finnegan’s Wake. In 1929, Beckett published his first work “Dante ... Bruno. Vico ...

Joyce”, the lead essay in a volume on Joyce’s writing. It was also during this period that his first short story Assumption was published and he won a small literary prize with his poem Whoroscope.

Beckett returned to Ireland in 1930 to lecture in French at Trinity College and while there wrote, and performed in, his first dramatic work Le Kid. Disillusioned with academic life he resigned from Trinity College in 1931 and began an extended

period of travel throughout Europe, eventually settling in Paris in 1937. During the late ‘30s he began to write in the French language believing that it allowed him to write “without style.” Works from this time include the novel Murphy and a collection of poems Echo’s Bones and Other Precipitates.

At the outbreak of World War II Beckett remained in France stating that he “preferred France at war to Ireland in peace.” He fought with the Resistance and was forced to escape to the unoccupied South and then back to Ireland. Beckett returned to France in 1947 and entered the most productive period of his career, writing three novels Molloy, Malone Meurt (Malone Dies) and L’Innommable (The Unnameable), and his most famous play En attendant Godot or Waiting for Godot, which premiered in Paris in 1953. Waiting for Godot along with Endgame (1957), Krapp’s Last Tape (1958) and Happy Days (1960) are considered instrumental in the “Theatre of the Absurd” – plays dealing with the subject of despair and the will to survive in spite of that despair – and added to his reputation as one of the 20th century’s greatest writers.

Throughout the 1960s and ‘70s Beckett’s wrote mainly for stage in an increasingly minimalist style and among these works are Play, Come and Go: Dramaticule, Eh Joe, Breath, Not I, That Time, Footfalls, Rockaby, Ohio Impromptu and Catastrophe. He also directed or supervised many international productions of his work. He continued

to write plays, prose, poems and essays until his death in Paris in 1989. Samuel Beckett received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1969 and was elected as a Saoi of Aosdána in 1984.

EAMON FLACK DIRECTOR As director: Malthouse Theatre: The End. Belvoir: The End, As You Like It (forthcoming). Other theatre (includes): Darwin Festival: Wulamanayuwi (forthcoming). Bob Presents: Summerfolk, A Midsummer Night’s Dream (with Arts Radar & B Sharp). As Adaptor: ThinIce: Antigone (also published by Currency Press). Bob Presents: Summerfolk. As Assistant Director: Belvoir: The Book of Everything. Other: A founder of Bob Presents, a loose collective of theatre makers. Special guest at the 2010 Alberta Theatre Projects’ Enbridge PlayRites Festival in Calgary, Canada. Currently: Associate Director (New Projects) at Belvoir. Series Editor of Currency Press’s Currency Classics.

TEEGAN LEE LIGHTING DESIGNER Malthouse Theatre: The End. Belvoir: The End. Other theatre: B Sharp/The Hayloft Project: The Suicide, The Only Child. NIDA: The Kitchen. Melbourne International Comedy Festival: Insert Comedy.

Studio Four: Improcalypse Now, Old Fashioned Standards. Canned Laughter: 12 Angry Men. NUTS:

MUSE DONOR PROGRAM

We extend our heartfelt thanks to the following donors: URANIA (Muse of the Stars) Anonymous (1) CLIO (Muse of History) Berry Liberman & Daniel Almagor

THALIA (Muse of Comedy) John & Lorraine Bates, Daniel & Danielle Besen, Eva Besen AO & Marc Besen AO, Debbie Dadon, Roger Donazzan & Margaret Jackson, Colin Golvan SC, John & Janet Calvert-Jones, Neilma Gantner, Richard Leonard, Philanthropy Squared, Trawalla Foundation MELPOMENE (Muse of Tragedy) Beth Brown & Tom Bruce AM, Terry Cutler, D.L & G.S Gjergja, Peter & Anne Laver, Tim & Lynne Sherwood, Neil & Barbara Smart EUTERPE (Muse of Music) Ingrid Ashford, Carolyn Floyd, Scott Herron, Ian Hocking & Rosemary Forbes, Michael Kingston, Naomi Milgrom AO, Dame Elisabeth Murdoch A.C., D.B.E., Rae Rothfield, Elisabeth & John Schiller, Marshall Segan, The Bardas Foundation, The Pratt Foundation, Leonard Vary & Matt Collins, Simon Westcott, Phil & Heather Wilson, Anonymous (2) TERPSICHORE (Muse of Dance) Graham & Anita Anderson, Sally Browne, Diana Burleigh, Min Li Chong, Sieglind D’Arcy, Rev Fr Michael Elligate, Taleen Gaidzkar, Brian Goddard, Brad Hooper, Susan Humphries, Graeme & Joan Johnson, Ann Kemeny & Graham Johnson, K & J Lindsay, Pamela McLure, James Penlidis & Fiona McGauchie, Robert Peters, Rosemary Ricker, Robert Templar, Gina Stuart, Jenny Schwarz, Fiona Sweet, Robert Sessions & Christina Fitzgerald, Dr. Victor & Dr. Karen Wayne, Angelika & Peter Zangmeister ERATO (Muse of Love) John Carruthers, Diane Clark, Chris Clough, Patricia Coutts, Callum Dale, Doreen Dempster, Peggy Hayton, Shirley Hickey, Leonie Hollingworth, Irene Irvine, Irene Kearsey, Ruth Krawat, Anna Lozynski, Gael & Ian McRae, Dr. Kersti Nogeste, John & Margot Rogers, Karen Russell, John Thomas, Ann Tonks, Rosemary Walls, Bruce Wapshott & Daryl Moon, Jan Watson, Joanne Whyte, Dr. Roger Woock & Fiona Clyne, Barbara Yuncken, Anonymous (13) To find out more about the Malthouse Theatre Muse program, please contact Philanthropy Manager Tamara Harrison on 03 9685 5162 / tharrison@malthousetheatre.com.au.

Donations of $2 or more are tax deductible.

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gratefully acknowledges its supporters

PRINCIPAL GOVERNMENT PARTNERS

MALTHOUSE THEATRE IS SUPPORTED BY THE AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT THROUGH THE AUSTRALIA COUNCIL, ITS ARTS FUNDING AND ADVISORY BODY

MAJOR PARTNER

PRODUCTION PARTNER

MEDIA PARTNER

CORPORATE PARTNERS

CORPORATE ASSOCIATES TRUSTS & FOUNDATIONS Annamila Pty Ltd

Artists in Residence Program

The Tom Kantor Fund and Dara Foundation

Education & Youth Access Program

Indigenous Theatre Program

Slome-Topol Family Charitable Trust Company in Residence Program

Artist Program

The Malcom Robertson Foundation

At the CUB Malthouse - 113 Sturt Street Southbank VIC 3006 Box Office +61 3 9685 5111 Administration +61 3 9685 5100 Facsimile +61 3 9685 5112 Email admin@malthousetheatre.com.au Web www.malthousetheatre.com.au BOARD OF DIRECTORS Simon Westcott (Chair), Frankie Airey, John Daley, Michele Levine, Ian McRae, Neil Smart, Thea Snow, Sigrid Thornton, Leonard Vary.

Production Manager David Miller Technical Manager Baird McKenna Operations Manager Dexter Varley Production Coordinator Lucy Birkinshaw Head Electricians Tom Brayshaw & Stewart Birkinshaw Campbell Artistic Director Marion Potts Head Mechanist Andy Moore Executive Producer Jo Porter Workshop Supervisor David Craig Interim Business Manager Head of Wardrobe Amanda Carr Emma Calverley Wardrobe Assistant Chloe Greaves Steel Fabricator Goffredo Mameli Company Managers Nina Bonacci & Workshop Staff Dan Talbot Julian Hobba Scenic Artist Patrick Jones Dramaturge in Residence Props Master Ross Murray Maryanne Lynch (lifetime recognition) Assistant to the Dramaturge Petra Kalive Artist in Residence - Design Anna Cordingley Artist in Residence - Lighting Design Paul Jackson Education Program Manager Fiona James Finance Manager Mario Agostinoni Finance Assistant Liz White Marketing & Communications Manager Brad Martin Philanthropy Manager Tamara Harrison Marketing & Communications Coordinator Nicole Smith Development Coordinator Jaclyn Birtchnell Media Manager Annette Vieusseux Interim Media Assistant Lucy Forge Assistant Ticketing Manager Emma Howard Building Manager Frank Stoffels Bar Manager Cherry Rivers Front of House Managers Tristan Watson & Sean Ladhams

Front of House/Bar Staff Matt Adair, Milo Adler-Gillies, Mira AdlerGillies, Rebecca Bower, Jacqui Brown, Rowan Michael Davie, Alice Dixon, Graham Downey, Tanja George, Kate Golding, Chloe Greaves, Kate Gregory, Simon Jeanes, Paula Lay, Gabrielle Lowe, Bridie McCarthy, Ruby Nolan, Felix Preval, Sara Retallick, Claire Richardson, Caleb Shea, Mimosa Schmidt, Kathryn Stuckey, Jade Thomson, Lee Threadgold, Pete Walker, Andy Wall, Janine Watson.

Box Office Staff Liz Bastian, Mark Byrne, Rachel DysonMcGregor, Cindy Elliott, Rachel Gelzinnis, Kate Gregory, Michelle Hines, Philip Holyman, Mike McEvoy, Fiona Wiseman, Liz White.

With special thanks to Stephen Armstrong and Catherine Jones.

This program has been printed on 100% recycled paper using soya based inks.

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belvoir.com.au

Malthouse Theatre & Chunky Move present

faker Created & Performed by Gideon Obarzanek

march 23 – aPrIL 2 Bookings malthousetheatre.com.au or 03 9685 5111