All a dream brings the work of samuel beckett to ballina

This week, Ballina Arts Centre will host All a Dream - a dramatic monologue based on a selection of prose and drama pieces by Samuel Beckett. It takes place tomorrow evening (Thursday, April 9) at 8 p.m.

This is a tailoring of excerpts from Beckett’s groundbreaking trilogy of novels (Molloy, Malone Dies, and The Unnameable), combined with the full text of the prose piece, From An Abandoned Work. It also draws on some shorter excerpts from a couple of other works, including Endgame and Waiting for Godot.

All a Dream presents the classical lugubrious Beckettian tramp in his ragged attire trapped in a seeming netherworld awaiting the end of his existence as he makes an attempt to relate the story of three days of his life. 

Samuel Beckett was one of Ireland’s greatest ever writers and the most important playwright of the 20th century. Born in 1906, Beckett moved to Paris as a young man, where he was part of the circle of writers and artists around James Joyce. His groundbreaking play, Waiting for Godot, revolutionised theatre and he went on to create a style and an aesthetic forged in the postwar existentialist zeitgeist.

Beckett is best known for his plays but he also wrote poetry and novels, and he wrote for radio and television. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature in 1969, and he died in 1989. 

All a Dream will be performed by actor Declan McGauran, who might be recognised from some television programmes, including Raw, the restaurant drama series, and the TG4 docu-drama series Maru. Most recently he has been working with Anu Productions on their series of Lockout works for which they received the Judges' Special Award at the 2013 Irish Times Irish Theatre Awards. 

Declan has long been fascinated by the works of Samuel Beckett and is delighted to be working on a monologue of such depth and power.

This superb piece of theatre should not be missed. Tickets cost €12/€10 and booking is advised on (096) 73593. See also www.ballinaartscentre.com for more details.