Overview

FRAGMENTS

From texts by Samuel Beckett
Directed by Peter Brook and Marie-Hélène Estienne
Featuring Jos Houben, Kathryn Hunter and Marcello Magni

In another of his exquisitely crafted, late-career creations, Peter Brook and Marie-Hélène Estienne interpret Samuel Beckett, the 20th century’s greatest playwright. Samuel Beckett was acclaimed in part for his incomparable concision, his unique mastery of the breathtakingly profound short work. Fragments assembles the five Beckett shorts Rough for Theatre I, Rockaby, Act without Words II, Neither and Come and Go.
“Beckett was a perfectionist,” writes Mr. Brook, “but can one be a perfectionist without an intuition of perfection? Today, with the passage of time, we see how false were the labels stuck on Beckett—despairing, negative, pessimistic. Indeed, he peers into the filthy abyss of human existence. His humor saves him and us from falling in, He rejects theories, dogmas, that offer pious consolations, yet his life was a constant, aching search for meaning.”

Fragments is performed in English.
Fragments is presented by special arrangement with Samuel French, Inc. and with Georges Borchardt, Inc. on behalf of The Estate of Samuel Beckett. All rights reserved.