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The Arts Council Playography Na Gaeilge

Plays

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Catastrophe

OVERVIEW

  • Playwright

    Samuel Beckett 

  • Notes

    Written in French.

  • Synopsis

    Catastrophe features a theatre director and his assistant arranging a protagonist, who stands on a black block submitting to their direction. 'D', the director, wears a fur coat and matching toque (a kind of hat) and smokes a fat cigar. He has only a short amount of time to devote to the rehearsal, as he must go to a caucus meeting. 'A', the assistant, behaves with humility and alacrity, though she carefully wipes D's armchair before she can relax in it. She has frequent recourse to her pad and pencil. Luke, the offstage lighting man, remains invisible throughout. 'D' gets a 'storm of applause' for his creation but the brief existence of the protagonist ('P') ends as a skull: '… raises his head, fixes the audience. The applause falters, dies.'

  • Play Type

    Plays General

    Number Of Acts

    One Act

    • Cast size

  • Male

    2

  • Female

    1

  • Total

    3

Original Production

  • Date of First Production

    1982

  • Production Notes

    First produced at the Avignon Festival, France.
Original Cast  
Production Team  
Director Stephen Meldbegg

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.