In this play written in 1960/61, Samuel Beckett explores a melancholy subject, steeped in humour, which today even more than in the past, asks for attention and move our souls: on our way to senescence, when we feel more fragile because of the effects of time, how can we live, feel and even hope the happiness?
Beckett brings us in the world of a mature lady. She is buried to the waist into a mound. In the vision of Robert Wilson it is the result of an eruption in the asphalt.
The lower part of the body is immobile and hidden to the others. She only communicates with her arms, her hands, her face, her words and her eyes full of life.
She tries to turn every day in a happy day. She tries to find moments of happiness through a ritual created by herself . She collects her daily objects around her, she talks with them and when she touches them, the objects reminds her the past and she is then able to smile. This ritual gives her strength and she finds in it a meaning for her life, in spite of the decline of her mobility.
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A particular chance for her is the presence of her husband, Willie, who shows for her some kind of affection even if he is not very talkative. And finally, maybe at the end of the last day, it’s not surprising that she sings their favourite melody, the struggling tune of “The Merry Widow”… “Lippen schweigen”…
Ellen Hammer
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PRODUCTION DATES
Luxembourg, Grand Theatre de Luxembourg, 24 - 26 September 2008
Spoleto, Spoleto 52 Festival dei due mondi, Teatro Caio Melisso, 27 June, from 2 to 5 July 2009
Prato, Teatro Metastasio, 4-8 November 2009 www.metastasio.net
Ferrara, Teatro Comunale, 19- 22 November 2009 www.teatrocomunaleferrara.it
Naples, Teatro Mercadante, 25 November - 6 December 2009 www.teatrostabilenapoli.it
Bari, Teatro Piccinni, 9-13 December 2009 www.teatropubblicopugliese.it
Bergamo, Teatro Donizetti, 15-20 December 2009 teatro.gaetano-donizetti.com
Jesi, Teatro Pergolesi, 15-16 January 2010
www.fondazionepergolesispontini.com
Pavia, Teatro Fraschini, 19-21 January 2010 www.teatrofraschini.it
Como, Teatro Sociale, 23-24 January 2010 www.teatrosocialecomo.it
St.Polten (Austria), Landestheater, 28-29 January 2010 www.landestheater.net
Aosta, Teatro Giacosa, 3-4 February 2010
Cremona, Teatro Ponchielli, 6-7 February 2010 www.teatroponchielli.it
Piacenza, Teatro Municipale, 16-17 February 2010 www.teatricomunali.piacenza.it
Belo Horizonte (Brazil), International Theatre Festival, Grande Teatro do Palácio das Artes, 14-15 August 2010
Porto Alegre (Brazil), Teatro Sao Pedro, 9-11 September 2010
Paris (France), Théâtre Athénée, 23 September - 10 October 2010 www.athenee-theatre.com
Udine, Teatro Giovanni da Udine, 27-30 October 2010
Milan, Piccolo Teatro Strehler, 9-14 November 2010
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