Klarinet Archive - Posting 000274.txt from 1996/04

From: "Steven A. Haaser" <HAASER@-----.EDU>
Subj: Re: Beckett interpreters
Date: Wed, 10 Apr 1996 20:20:40 -0400

Marie McDonough wrote:
[...]
>until he died, Samuel Beckett, the
>author of "Waiting for Godot" and many other plays, went around the world,
>observing rehearsals of his works and threatening lawsuits against directors
who
>deviated too far from what he perceived to be the *right* way to stage his
>plays. Some creators would rather see their works die than see them
transformed
>in any significant way.

This is an interesting case, since Beckett was so very insistent on
adherence to his script and directions. I remember being told that Beckett
chose to write several of his plays in French even though he was Irish
because he felt he was less likely to write something in French which would
be very subtle and fully understandable only to a native speaker as he could
do, perhaps inadvertently, in English. He wanted everything perfectly clear
(which perhaps my posting here isn't).

Cheers,
Steve