Catastrophe: A Beckettian Cabaret 

 

Cast:

Ross Beschler, Anthony Crosby, Keith Conallen,  Kishia Nixon and Steven Wright

 

Musician: 

Chris Sannino

 

Music Composed:

Chris Sannino and Han Van Sciver

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Direction:

Brenna Geffers 

 

If you are into interesting Catastrophe Facts: 

 

Samuel Beckett was born in Dublin, Ireland, in 1906, although he spent the majority of his life in France, specifically Paris. Success was a long time coming. He was immensely inspired by James Joyce, for whom he worked on and off again throughout his youth. The Paris music and vaudeville hall also inspired him. He chose to remain in France for WWII and served in a secret resistance faction called Gloria until he and his wife fled to the side to wait out the war. In 1948, he wrote Waiting for Godot, which would be his first play staged and would alter the trajectory of his life. He died in France in 1989. 

 

The first song, Fair To Middling Men, is based on unusual but true facts about a young Samuel Beckett leading into World War II, after which he would write his first play. The title comes from Beckett’s very first novel, Dream of Fair to Middling Women, written when he was 26 years old, living in Paris. 

 

Catastrophe, the first short, was dedicated to Václav Havel, who was imprisoned at the time. 

 

The song She Is Standing on My Foot, explores Beckett’s early career translating French poetry before he became a successful playwright. While he did have some translations and poems published, most of his novels were rejected for being pornographic. 

 

What Where was the last play Samuel Beckett wrote. 

 

The short movement sequence, BeckettWrithe, features a few snippets and references from Beckett’s Waiting for Godot. 

 

Cascando was written to be a radio play and is rarely performed live. Beckett referred to it as possibly “unimportant” but noted that it is the best he could do to express how his mind worked. 

 

Ohio Impromptu makes reference to the bouts of insomnia and panic attacks Beckett suffered and is one of the most vivid versions of Doppelgangers and doubles that Beckett often used in his plays, short stories, and novels. 

 

The final song Fare Thee Well uses one of Beckett’s poems for the verses and original lyrics for the chorus. It was the first element of the Beckettian Cabaret that was finalized. 

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This Cabaret will travel to UpState NY for the HalfBaked Beckett Festival before traveling on to Provincetown, Cape Cod. 

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