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Footfalls
What happens: A woman hugs herself and paces back and forth on a bare landing outside her dying mother's room.
Footfalls
Lisa says: 'The foundation for this play is trauma. It features a creature, not quite there, and a relationship between a mother and daughter.'
Rockaby
What happens: A woman sits in a wooden rocking chair, which seems to move of its own accord.
Rockaby
Lisa says: 'This is the loneliest of the pieces. A woman is rocked towards her inevitable conclusion; it's harrowing. It has a real rhythm and air of music.'
Not I
What happens: A babbling stream of conscious monologue is delivered by a mouth that floats on a black stage.
Not I
Lisa says: 'It's a terribly confronting work, both for the speaker and the listener. If anything, it's a real portal into the soul, through a constantly moving mouth.'
'Not I'/'Footfalls'/'Rockaby' runs at the Southbank Centre from Aug 21 to Aug 30.
Samuel Beckett's 'Not I' trilogy explained
Samuel Beckett's 'Not I' is one of theatre's most taxing plays to perform. Actress Lisa Dwan explains the trio of plays coming to the Southbank Centre
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The legendary Irish dramatist Samuel Beckett was known for his head-scratchingly different, boundary-breaking plays, and his monologues ‘Not I’ (1972), ‘Footfalls’ (1975) and ‘Rockaby’ (1980) are some of the most out-there stuff he ever wrote. Three of Beckett’s most surreal and technically exacting works – infamously, 'Not I' is performed at turbo-speed by a mouth floating in the darkness – watching them is an often transporting, emotional experience. Earlier this year, Irish actor Lisa Dwan performed the three pieces to sell-out crowds at the Royal Court and in the West End. And now she brings them back to London one last time at the Southbank Centre. Here she helps unlock the secrets of these magnificently cryptic works.
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