The Gate On Tour - Gate Beckett
The Gate receives rave reviews on Broadway
Wednesday 16th July - Sunday 27th July
Gate | Beckett
Lincoln Center Festival 2008
New York
Eh Joe · I'll Go On · First Love
Starring
Liam Neeson, featuring the voice of
Penelope Wilton ·
Barry McGovern ·
Ralph Fiennes
Directors
Atom Egoyan ·
Colm Ó Briain ·
Michael Colgan
Three great actors will perform three powerful Samuel Beckett monologues when the Gate returns, in this its fourth visit, to the prestigious
Lincoln Center Festival 2008 in New York with
Gate | Beckett, three Beckett pieces not originally conceived for the theatre.
In the first of these visits, the Gate helped launch the first ever Lincoln Center Festival 1996 with the renowned Beckett Festival, producing all 19 of Samuel Beckett’s stage plays. The sold-out run met with universal acclaim, with Time Magazine calling it
‘the year’s great theatrical event’. In 1999 the Gate returned with a Friel Festival followed by an acclaimed Pinter Festival in 2001, which Michael Colgan was invited to curate.
Eh Joe will star renowned Irish actor Liam Neeson in his debut role for the Gate. Neeson, whose films include Schindler’s List, Michael Collins and Kinsey, last appeared onstage in New York in The Play What I Wrote and a revival of The Crucible in 2002. Eh Joe was first presented at the Gate in 2006, starring Michael Gambon, and subsequently transferred to the Duke of York’s Theatre, London, receiving critical and popular acclaim, with the Sunday Times describing it as
“the greatest half-hour in theatrical history”. In January of last year the production was seen at the Sydney Festival as part of a sold out Gate Beckett Season with Charles Dance in the title role. This production was original staged and directed by esteemed film, theatre and opera director Atom Egoyan and features the voice of Penelope Wilton, with design by Eileen Diss and lighting by James McConnell.
The Gate Theatre’s celebrated production of I'll Go On is a one-man show based on Beckett’s Molloy, Malone Dies and The Unnamable, with texts selected by Gerry Dukes and Barry McGovern. First performed at the Gate in 1985, this tour de force starring Barry McGovern, Ireland's greatest interpreter of Samuel Beckett, has toured worldwide to great critical acclaim. Directed by Colm Ó Briain, with design by Robert Ballagh and lighting by James McConnell, it was most recently seen at the Europalia Festival in Brussels and also at the Sydney Festival 2007 where the Sun Herald wrote
“Barry McGovern's astounding performance was not only the best of the festival, but also among the best I've ever seen…Genius, no other word for it”.
First Love, Beckett’s darkly humorous post war novella, stars international stage and screen actor Ralph Fiennes with direction by Gate Theatre Director and Beckett champion Michael Colgan, design by Eileen Diss, and lighting by James McConnell. This darkly comic tale was an instant success with audiences and critics alike:
“Ralph Fiennes made 55 minutes feel like a lingering moment last night in a fluid, flawless opening of First Love” The Daily Telegraph.
This production of First Love was originally presented as part of the Sydney Festival 2007.
Productions, which vary in length from 30 minutes to 1 hour 30 minutes, may be seen individually from July 16th through July 25th, or all three in one day with marathons on July 26th and July 27th.
“an unforgettable experience, 30 spellbinding minutes that seem to transport you to a timeless dimension…one of the most wholly satisfying nights I’ve spent at the theatre this year” The New York Times (Eh Joe)
“McGovern embodies these variously abject, embittered and infuriated story spinners with an intensity that both tickles and stings” The New York Times (I’ll Go On)
“In his virtuoso solo performance, Fiennes meticulously explores every level of his spiralling descent into despair. Prepare to be mesmerized” Variety (First Love)
“That’s some package Lincoln Center picked up from Dublin’s Gate Theater for Festival 2008” Variety
