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The Arts Council Playography Na Gaeilge

Plays

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Ohio Impromptu

OVERVIEW

  • Playwright

    Samuel Beckett 

  • Notes

    Written in English.

  • Synopsis

    Ohio Impromptu opens with a figure clad in black with long white hair hiding his face and sitting on a white chair at a white table. There are two characters, the Reader and the Listener. The Reader, it emerges, is a mysterious messenger from someone now dead and once loved by the Listener. The book the Reader reads from tells the story of the Listener mourning right up until the last moment, when the story is told for the last time and 'there is nothing left to tell'. Throughout, the Listener not only listens but also regulates his companion's reading by knocking on the table with his hand in an attempt to ensure that this will not be the final telling of the tale.

  • Play Type

    Plays General

    Number Of Acts

    One Act

    • Cast size

  • Male

    1

  • Total

    1

Original Production

  • Date of First Production

    1981

  • Production Notes

    First produced at Ohio State University, USA, as part of a symposium to celebrate the author's seventy-fifth birthday.
Original Cast  
Production Team  
Director Alan Schneider

Published Scripts

Rights Information

  • Territory

    All Territories

  • Rights Type

    All Rights

  • Contact

    The Estate of Samuel Beckett

  • Address

    c/o Curtis Brown Haymarket House, 28/29 Haymarket,
    London SW1Y 4SP
    England

  • Phone

    + 44 (0) 20 7396 6600

  • Email

    cb@curtisbrown.co.uk

  • Website

    www.curtisbrown.co.uk

Source Of Information

The information for this entry was taken from 'Samuel Beckett: Collected Plays' (Faber and Faber, 1986) and from various other sources.