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''Eh Joe'' is a piece for television, written in English by
Samuel Beckett Samuel Barclay Beckett (; 13 April 1906 – 22 December 1989) was an Irish novelist, dramatist, short story writer, theatre director, poet, and literary translator. His literary and theatrical work features bleak, impersonal and tragicomic expe ...
, his first work for the medium. It was begun on the author's fifty-ninth birthday, 13 April 1965, and completed by 1 May. “It asfollowed by six undated typescripts (numbered 0 - 4 and ‘final version’).” Despite the English version being recorded first, due to delays at the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
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, the first actual broadcast was of Elmar and Erika Tophoven’s German translation, ''He Joe'', on 13 April 1966, Beckett’s sixtieth birthday, by Süddeutscher Rundfunk,
Stuttgart Stuttgart (; Swabian: ; ) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is located on the Neckar river in a fertile valley known as the ''Stuttgarter Kessel'' (Stuttgart Cauldron) and lies an hour from the ...
; Beckett directed, his first credit as such. Deryk Mendel played Joe and Nancy Illig voiced the woman. An American production of ''Eh Joe'' was directed by frequent Beckett collaborator
Alan Schneider Alan Schneider (December 12, 1917 – May 3, 1984) was an American theatre director responsible for more than 100 theatre productions. In 1984 he was honored with a Drama Desk Special Award for serving a wide range of playwrights. He directed th ...
, produced by
Glenn Jordan Glenn Jordan (born April 5, 1936) is a retired American television director and producer. Born in San Antonio, Texas, Jordan directed multiple episodes of ''Family'' and helmed numerous television movies, several based on real persons as divers ...
and broadcast by
PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcasting, public broadcaster and Non-commercial activity, non-commercial, Terrestrial television, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly fu ...
WNDT on 18 April 1966. The first English broadcast went out eventually on
BBC2 BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream an ...
(4 July 1966) with
Jack MacGowran John Joseph MacGowran (13 October 1918 – 30 January 1973) was an Irish actor, probably best known for his work with Samuel Beckett. Stage career MacGowran was born on 13 October 1918 in Dublin, and educated at Synge Street CBS. He establis ...
, for whom the play was specifically written, playing Joe (originally ‘Jack’Knowlson, J., ''Damned to Fame: The Life of Samuel Beckett'' (London: Bloomsbury, 1996), p 534 at the start of the first draft) and
Siân Phillips Dame Jane Elizabeth Ailwên Phillips (born 14 May 1933), known professionally as Siân Phillips ( ), is a Welsh actress. She has performed the title roles in Ibsen's ''Hedda Gabler'' and George Bernard Shaw's '' Saint Joan''. Early life Phi ...
as Voice. Beckett had asked for
Billie Whitelaw Billie Honor Whitelaw (6 June 1932 – 21 December 2014) was an English actress. She worked in close collaboration with Irish playwright Samuel Beckett for 25 years and was regarded as one of the foremost interpreters of his works. She was al ...
but she was unavailable due to another acting commitment.
Alan Gibson Norman Alan Stewart Gibson (28 May 1923 – 10 April 1997) was an English journalist, writer and radio broadcaster, best known for his work in connection with cricket, though he also sometimes covered football and rugby union. At various times ...
directed but with Beckett in attendance. At least thirteen versions have been preserved on tape making it far and away Beckett's most produced teleplay. It was first published in ''Eh Joe and Other Writings'' ( Faber, 1967) – although the version published is closer to Typescript 3, mentioned above, than the version as broadcast.


The characters


Joe

The play opens with Joe, a grey-haired man in his late fifties, sitting alone in an
archetypal The concept of an archetype (; ) appears in areas relating to behavior, historical psychology, and literary analysis. An archetype can be any of the following: # a statement, pattern of behavior, prototype, "first" form, or a main model that ...
Beckettian room. He is wearing an old dressing gown and a pair of carpet slippers. Like a young child, checking for monsters, Joe methodically goes through his room. As he does so the camera follows him... # getting up, going to window, opening window, looking out, closing window, drawing curtain, standing intent. # going from window to door, opening door, looking out, closing door, locking door, drawing hanging before door, standing intent. # going from door to cupboard, opening cupboard, looking in, closing cupboard, locking cupboard, drawing hanging before cupboard, standing intent. # going from cupboard to bed, kneeling down looking under bed, getting up, sitting down on edge of bed as when discovered, beginning to relax.Beckett, S., ''Collected Shorter Plays of Samuel Beckett'' (London: Faber and Faber, 1984), p 201 The camera cuts to a
close-up A close-up or closeup in filmmaking, television production, still photography, and the comic strip medium is a type of shot that tightly frames a person or object. Close-ups are one of the standard shots used regularly with medium and long s ...
of Joe. His eyes are closed, his features relaxed. Beckett indicates that the close-up should begin with the camera one yard (1 m) from his face and dolly-in gradually throughout the piece. He indicates nine breaks where the camera is allowed to move, four inches (102 mm) closer each time. By the end of the play, the camera is literally staring him in the eyes. “The numeral
nine 9 is a number, numeral, and glyph. 9 or nine may also refer to: Dates * AD 9, the ninth year of the AD era * 9 BC, the ninth year before the AD era * 9, numerical symbol for the month of September Places * Nine, Portugal, a parish in the ...
has often been associated with death,” e.g. there are nine circles in
Dante's Dante's is a nightclub and live music venue in Portland, Oregon. The venue, located along West Burnside Street and owned by Frank Faillace, hosts a variety of acts ranging from burlesque to rock music. Dante's is housed in an unreinforced masonr ...
vision of
Hell In religion and folklore, hell is a location in the afterlife in which evil souls are subjected to punitive suffering, most often through torture, as eternal punishment after death. Religions with a linear divine history often depict hell ...
. As the woman begins to speak Joe opens his eyes and his face displays a look of “intentness”. He is trapped, which is how Beckett referred to the room in ''
Film A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...
''; the situation here is very similar, in fact Beckett originally had Joe on a seat just like O but obviously decided that “a more telling image for a
seducer Seduction has multiple meanings. Platonically, it can mean "to persuade to disobedience or disloyalty", or "to lead astray, usually by persuasion or false promises". Strategies of seduction include conversation and sexual scripts, paralingual ...
would be alone on a bed.” The voice utters nine short speeches during which Beckett requires the actor remain practically motionless and stares unblinkingly toward – though not directly at – the camera lens, an extraordinary demand for physical restraint to ask of any actor, though in reality there were instances where, when filming, MacGowran did close his eyes for effect (e.g. after the word “
Gillette Gillette is an American brand of safety razors and other personal care products including shaving supplies, owned by the multi-national corporation Procter & Gamble (P&G). Based in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, it was owned by The Gil ...
”, he closes his eyes and his face winces in pain). Only during the short gaps, while the camera moves, can he relax his gaze momentarily. Despite these unscripted breaks MacGowran found the role “the most gruelling twenty-two minutes I have ever had in my life” but he also admits it was the only time he was “wholly pleased with this work.” He wrote later: : “It’s really photographing the mind. It’s the nearest perfect play for television that you could come across, because the television camera photographs the mind better than anything else.”


Voice

As the camera moves – but not ''while'' the camera moves – we hear a woman's voice addressing Joe. Beckett specifies that the voice should be as follows: “Low, distinct, remote, little colour, absolutely steady rhythm, slightly slower than normal.” The tone throughout is accusatory. Nancy Illig describes the kind of delivery that resulted from her work with Beckett in 1966, as a “hammering
staccato Staccato (; Italian for "detached") is a form of musical articulation. In modern notation, it signifies a note of shortened duration, separated from the note that may follow by silence. It has been described by theorists and has appeared in music ...
”. “The voice becomes a technical device, on a par with the dolly.” In the original recording “the vocal colourlessness at which Beckett was aiming was achieved by placing a
microphone A microphone, colloquially called a mic or mike (), is a transducer that converts sound into an electrical signal. Microphones are used in many applications such as telephones, hearing aids, public address systems for concert halls and public ...
right up against he actress’smouth and, as her voice was being recorded, both high and low
frequencies Frequency is the number of occurrences of a repeating event per unit of time. It is also occasionally referred to as ''temporal frequency'' for clarity, and is distinct from ''angular frequency''. Frequency is measured in hertz (Hz) which is eq ...
were filtered out.” Billie Whitelaw, who finally got to tackle the role in 1989, recalls: : “For ''Eh Joe'', I went over to
Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
and saw Sam. We read it together. I found it unbearably moving but we read it and he kept on hitting my nose – which is neither here nor there, very sweet – and we read it through and he kept on saying as always, ‘No colour, no colour’ and ‘slow’, I mean slower than I’ve ever known him want me to go before, even slower than ''
Footfalls ''Footfalls'' is a play by Samuel Beckett Samuel Barclay Beckett (; 13 April 1906 – 22 December 1989) was an Irish novelist, dramatist, short story writer, theatre director, poet, and literary translator. His literary and theatrical work ...
'': absolutely flat; absolutely on a
monotone Monotone refers to a sound, for example music or speech, that has a single unvaried tone. See: monophony. Monotone or monotonicity may also refer to: In economics *Monotone preferences, a property of a consumer's preference ordering. *Monotonic ...
.” “Whitelaw asemphasized over and again in her workshops … the difference between playing ‘character roles’ and acting the Beckett roles she played with ‘no colour.’ Whitelaw explained how she concentrated her attention on timing, rhythm, and the musicality of texts, as well as creating an active
metaphor A metaphor is a figure of speech that, for rhetorical effect, directly refers to one thing by mentioning another. It may provide (or obscure) clarity or identify hidden similarities between two different ideas. Metaphors are often compared wit ...
for a role so that she could play the role with ‘no colour.’ She also explained how she delivered her lines as a form of ‘
Chinese water torture Chinese water torture or a "dripping machine"Dripping Machine
 is a ...
’ so that each phrase of the text was delivered as a drop of water literally dripped into Joe's head.” She remembers that Beckett mentioned “the phrase ‘suppressed venom’ in relation to the woman. She seems to be jealous of the other women she describes, vindictive. He also said to remember that she is weary ... I must also try to remember that she is a voice in someone else's head, a disembodied voice.”


Synopsis

''Eh Joe'' is the complete
antithesis Antithesis (Greek for "setting opposite", from "against" and "placing") is used in writing or speech either as a proposition that contrasts with or reverses some previously mentioned proposition, or when two opposites are introduced together f ...
to '' ... but the clouds ...'' in which a man strains nightly to evoke the image of a woman with little success. Like O in ''Film'', Joe has gone through his routine, doing what he feels he needs to do to protect himself and like the man in ''Film'' he is sitting quietly thinking he is safe. But he is not. It is not a face he finds watching himself but a voice he hears, a woman’s voice. As the voice progresses we move closer and closer to Joe. To
Alan Schneider Alan Schneider (December 12, 1917 – May 3, 1984) was an American theatre director responsible for more than 100 theatre productions. In 1984 he was honored with a Drama Desk Special Award for serving a wide range of playwrights. He directed th ...
, Beckett wrote on 7 April 1966: "Voice should be whispered. A dead voice in his head. Minimum of colour. Attacking. Each sentence a knife going in, pause for withdrawal, then in again." 36” – The voice wants to know if Joe has checked everything. Why is he still sitting there with the light on? Why doesn’t he go to bed? He's changed the covers. 32” – She reminds him that he’d told her that the best was still to come but that it was the last thing he did say to her as he hurried her into her coat and bundled her out the door. 28” – She is not the first voice that has come to him like this, in his mind; although the woman hints that the source may be external. His father's voice came to him for years until Joe found a way to stop him talking, to metaphorically throttle him, then his mother and finally, others, “ the others”, everyone it seems who ever loved him. 24” – She asks if there is anyone left who might love him. He's reduced to paying for sex, once a week. She warns him to be careful he doesn’t run out of people to take advantage of because then there would only be him left to adore him until he too died. She assures him that she is not in heaven and not to expect to go there himself. 20” – The woman recalls one time the two of them were together. It was summer, they were sitting together on the grass watching the ducks, holding hands and exchanging vows. He’d complimented her on her
elocution Elocution is the study of formal speaking in pronunciation, grammar, style, and tone as well as the idea and practice of effective speech and its forms. It stems from the idea that while communication is symbolic, sounds are final and compelli ...
and she remarks how well he used to express himself. Now, like he did with his parents and the others, he has “ her down to this”,Beckett, S., ''Collected Shorter Plays of Samuel Beckett'' (London: Faber and Faber, 1984), p 204 the slow monotonous drone we hear. She knows her time is limited and wonders when all she will have left is a whisper. She lashes out at him and asks him to imagine if he never managed to rid himself of her until he died and was with her in death himself. 16”– Joe has been a religious man. She wants to know if he's as righteous as he used to profess to be. She quotes from the
parable A parable is a succinct, didactic story, in prose or verse, that illustrates one or more instructive lessons or principles. It differs from a fable in that fables employ animals, plants, inanimate objects, or forces of nature as characters, w ...
of
Jesus Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...
about the rich man and says one day God will talk to him like she is doing and, when he does, it’ll be time for him to die. 12” – Joe had said that the best was to come. She tells him that, for her at least, it did. She found someone far better than he was and lists off all the ways. 8” – She did all right. “But there was one didn’t.”Beckett, S., ''Collected Shorter Plays of Samuel Beckett'' (London: Faber and Faber, 1984), p 205 One of Joe's other loves, a young, slim, pale girl did not fare so well. He said the same thing to her that the best was yet to come, just as he did with Voice, as he bundled the girl out the door with no intention of furthering the relationship now he’d got what he wanted from her. In fact his aeroplane ticket was in his pocket ready for him to make good his escape. The timeline is unclear but the likelihood is that his relationship with Voice came first. 4” – She wants to know if Joe knew what happened to her, if she’d told him. Of course she hadn’t. The first he’d heard about it was an announcement in the Independent. Joe tries harder to throttle the voice. She knows her time is short and begins to goad him. “Mud thou art,” she tells him – more commonly heard as “dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return” – Genesis 3:19. 0” – The woman proceeds to tell him what exactly happened to the girl he abandoned. Voice describes her going down to the sea close to her house wearing only her lavender
slip Slip or SLIP may refer to: Science and technology Biology * Slip (fish), also known as Black Sole * Slip (horticulture), a small cutting of a plant as a specimen or for grafting * Muscle slip, a branching of a muscle, in anatomy Computing and ...
where she attempts to drown herself but it doesn’t work. The girl returns to the house, sopping wet, fetches a
razor A razor is a bladed tool primarily used in the removal of body hair through the act of shaving. Kinds of razors include straight razors, safety razors, disposable razors, and electric razors. While the razor has been in existence since before t ...
– the make Joe recommended to her – goes back down the garden, this time to the
viaduct A viaduct is a specific type of bridge that consists of a series of arches, piers or columns supporting a long elevated railway or road. Typically a viaduct connects two points of roughly equal elevation, allowing direct overpass across a wide v ...
, where she also fails to slit her wrists. She tears a strip of silk from her slip and ties it round the scratch. She goes back to the house and this time gets some tablets. She takes a few on her way back down the garden. When she reaches the viaduct she decides to head further down near the Rock and takes some more on the way. When she reaches the spot she empties the tube and lies down in the end with her face a few feet from the – presumably incoming – tide. At this point Beckett added the following instruction, which is not included in the printed text: “Eyes remember.” Joe makes a concerted effort at this point and the woman's voice drops to a whisper. She makes Joe imagine the girl lying there, describing events in erotic terms: “… part the ''lips'' … ''solitaire'' … ''Breasts'' in the stones …''Imagine'' the hands … What are they fondling? … ''There’s love for you'' …” Another change Beckett made here was to add in a greater degree of repetition, particularly the word “imagine” emphasising that what we are hearing here is primarily a work of imagination rather than simple recollection. The voice falls silent and the image fades out. Joe has finally rid himself of her. As his face vanishes we realise he is smiling, an important addition Beckett made to the play but which was never incorporated in the printed text. “Here, for the first time, Joe looks at the camera”. This may not represent a final victory but he has silenced her for now.


Interpretation

Joe does not come across as a particularly likeable man. On the surface he is like many of Beckett's lonely old men, affected by the effects of the choices he has made, but whereas many have simply ended up where they are by avoiding humanity, Joe has used and discarded it, particularly its women. But does he feel responsible, let alone guilty, for his actions? Either way, something is playing on his mind. The woman's voice that carps at him acts as if she is “a representation, an exteriorization of Joe’s internal conflict” but the reality is she is “not only the voice of memory, even memory rearranged or juxtaposed, but at least creative if not created memory, that is, memory leaching into imagination or creativity. Were she not, how could he “squeeze away” at her until he finally silences her completely? Beckett was very specific when writing to Alan Schneider: “An inner voice from the past.” In the “version of ''He Joe'' directed by Walter Asmus and Beckett, recorded in Germany 1979 … camera pursues Joe in line with the text’s instructions; but Joe is positioned on the right of the frame, and he does not look at the camera as it moves inexorably closer. The effect is to deepen the ambiguity of the voice’s location; Joe’s posture suggests that the voice is whispering directly into his ear, but the place where the one whispering would normally sit is, the framing constantly reminds us, empty.” Why a woman though and why this particular woman? “Aspects of consciousness, according to
Jung Carl Gustav Jung ( ; ; 26 July 1875 – 6 June 1961) was a Swiss psychiatrist and psychoanalyst who founded analytical psychology. Jung's work has been influential in the fields of psychiatry, anthropology, archaeology, literature, philo ...
, can become almost independent personalities and might even ‘become visible or audible. They appear as visions, they speak in voices which are like the voices of definite people.’” “His
protagonist A protagonist () is the main character of a story. The protagonist makes key decisions that affect the plot, primarily influencing the story and propelling it forward, and is often the character who faces the most significant obstacles. If a st ...
represents an aspect of psychological duality, akin to Jung’s Anima or Shadow. Voice in ''Eh Joe'' is less Joe’s dark or evil side than his opposite: feminine, constant, secure and irreligious, to Joe’s masculine, lecherous, dishonest but (surprisingly) religious self,” There is little material to build a fully rounded character but the woman appears to have been a survivor. Whereas the other one, “ green one” as she calls her, couldn’t bear to live without Joe, the woman whose voice Joe hears made a better life for herself without him. She is the logical choice for Joe's last surviving accuser. In many respects she is the distillation of all the previous voices, a last gasp, pointing an accusing finger at him on behalf of herself and all the others, particularly the suicide. In doing so 'he finds that hell is not only other people but himself'. We learn nothing about why his mother or father might trouble him after their deaths but disapproving or disappointed parents are plentiful enough throughout Beckett's work. Joe suffers his father's ‘ghost’ for years until he realises that he can affect it, that by an act of will he can stop the words, to make the literally dead also figuratively dead. In a letter sent to MacGreevy on 6 April 1965, Beckett writes: "I shake at the thought of the ordeal you have been through. At least you are through it. You mustn't give up. Putting down memories is enough to make anyone crack." This is what Beckett means by the expression “All your dead dead,” those ‘ghosts’ that he has exorcised in this way. This is reminiscent of the following lines from ''The Expelled'': : Memories are killing. So you must not think of certain things, or those that are dear to you, or rather you must think of them, for if you don't there is the danger of finding them, in your mind, little by little. That is to say, you must think of them for a while, a good while, every day several times a day, until they sink forever in the mud. That's an order. “The play is full of verbs conveying what Joe’s voice describes as ‘mental
thuggee Thuggee (, ) are actions and crimes carried out by Thugs, historically, organised gangs of professional robbers and murderers in India. The English word ''thug'' traces its roots to the Hindi ठग (), which means 'swindler' or 'deceiver'. Rela ...
’: throttle, muzzle, spike, squeeze, tighten, silence, garrotte, finish, mum, strangle, stamp out, exterminate, still, kill, lay, choke.” “’It is his passion to kill the voices which he cannot kill,’ said Beckett.” The religious subtext did not exist in the earliest drafts. Beckett incorporated it after a two-week break in working on the play. He makes Joe a
Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
(as the prayer to
Mary Mary may refer to: People * Mary (name), a feminine given name (includes a list of people with the name) Religious contexts * New Testament people named Mary, overview article linking to many of those below * Mary, mother of Jesus, also calle ...
suggests) and, as the Catholic Church views suicide as a
mortal sin A mortal sin ( la, peccatum mortale), in Catholic theology, is a gravely sinful act which can lead to damnation if a person does not repent of the sin before death. A sin is considered to be "mortal" when its quality is such that it leads to ...
, how would Joe feel if he thought he might be even indirectly responsible for this? This, of course, brings up the whole issue of
Catholic guilt Catholic guilt is the reported excess guilt felt by Catholics and lapsed Catholics. Guilt is a by-product of an informed conscience but "Catholic" guilt is often confused with scrupulosity. An overly scrupulous conscience is an exaggeration of hea ...
. An omission in all printed versions is the capitalization in the expression, “The passion of our Joe,” which Beckett wanted to read – though of course it makes no difference to the performance – “The passion of Our Joe.” It has been suggested that Joe is actually masturbating while all this is going on – and some of Voice's remarks do, not unreasonably, attack his current level of sexual prowess – but scholars tend to skim over the imagery used in the final section of Voice's
diatribe A diatribe (from the Greek ''διατριβή''), also known less formally as rant, is a lengthy oration, though often reduced to writing, made in criticism of someone or something, often employing humor, sarcasm, and appeals to emotion. His ...
so it is difficult to give anything more than a speculative interpretation. Beckett certainly has not shied away from the subject (it appears in ''
Mercier and Camier ''Mercier and Camier'' is a novel by Samuel Beckett that was written in 1946, but remained unpublished until 1970. Appearing immediately before his celebrated "trilogy" of ''Molloy'', ''Malone Dies'' and '' The Unnamable'', ''Mercier et Camier'' ...
'' for example) but there is a danger of reading too much into Beckett rather than just enough.


Stage productions

All of Beckett's theatrical work is readily available to the general public apart from the television plays. In an attempt to introduce audiences theatre directors have sought means to translate the works from one medium to another within the bounds of tolerance of the Beckett Foundation. The Canadian filmmaker
Atom Egoyan Atom Egoyan (; hy, Աթոմ Եղոյեան, translit=Atom Yeghoyan; born July 19, 1960) is a Canadian filmmaker. He was part of a loosely-affiliated group of filmmakers to emerge in the 1980s from Toronto known as the Toronto New Wave. Egoyan m ...
successfully premiered a version of ''Eh Joe'' at the
Gate Theatre The Gate Theatre is a Theater (structure), theatre on Cavendish Row in Dublin, Ireland. It was founded in 1928. History Beginnings The Gate Theatre was founded in 1928 by Hilton Edwards and Micheál MacLiammóir with Daisy Bannard Cogley and Ge ...
in
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in April 2006 featuring
Michael Gambon Sir Michael John Gambon (; born 19 October 1940) is an Irish-English actor. Regarded as one of Ireland and Britain's most distinguished actors, he is known for his work on stage and screen. Gambon started his acting career with Laurence Olivi ...
as Joe with
Penelope Wilton Dame Penelope Alice Wilton (born 3 June 1946), styled Penelope, Lady Holm between 1998 and 2001, is an English actress. She is known for starring opposite Richard Briers in the BBC sitcom ''Ever Decreasing Circles'' (1984–1989); playing Hom ...
as Voice.
Karen Fricker Karen Fricker (born 1966) is a professor at Brock University and a professional theatre critic, focusing her research in contemporary theatre and globalization, contemporary Québec theatre, popular performances of nation and cultural identities, ...
wrote in ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'': : “Egoyan's answer is to mix the media: a live camera just offstage is trained on Michael Gambon's face, and the image is projected on to a scrim in front of the playing area. This not only delivers the text, but adds fresh nuances: the motionlessness of Gambon's body contrasts ironically and pathetically with the emotions (defiance, boredom, regret, fatigue, anger) playing across that amazing, expressive, baggy face. : “The darkness of the theatre and most of the playing area, and the sheer size of the projected image of Gambon's face – it fills nearly the whole height of the
proscenium A proscenium ( grc-gre, προσκήνιον, ) is the metaphorical vertical plane of space in a theatre, usually surrounded on the top and sides by a physical proscenium arch (whether or not truly "arched") and on the bottom by the stage floor ...
– create an atmosphere of near-unbearable intensity, like living inside someone else's filthy conscience. : “Its excellence makes a crucial point in the current atmosphere of centenary reverence: that new interpretive strategies are not a threat, but in fact bring new life to the work.”Fricker, K., ‘''Eh Joe''’ in ''The Guardian'', Monday 10 April 2006 Gambon subsequently reprised the role in London and was due to appear at the
Sydney Festival Sydney Festival is a major arts festival in Australia's largest city, Sydney that runs for three weeks every January, since it was established in 1977. The festival program features in excess of 100 events from local and international artists an ...
in January 2007 for a special Beckett Season but had to pull out due to personal reasons. He was replaced by
Charles Dance Walter Charles Dance (born 10 October 1946) is an English actor. He is known for playing strict, authoritarian characters and villains. His most notable film roles include Sardo Numspa in ''The Golden Child'' (1986), Dr. Jonathan Clemens in ''A ...
. In July 2008 Egoyan's production played New York City with Wilton still as Voice, now joined by
Liam Neeson William John Neeson (born 7 June 1952) is an actor from Northern Ireland. He has received several accolades, including nominations for an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, and two Tony Awards. In 2020, he was placed 7th on ''The I ...
as Joe. A less noteworthy staged interpretation was created by actor/director Cradeaux Alexander at the Kraine Theatre in his 2000 reworking which removed the old man completely from the proceedings, divided the woman's speech between three actresses and an actor leaving the audience to stand in as the beleaguered Joe. Among other things, the audience isn't Joe and doesn't share his history. Without him present to convey his guilt they are merely eavesdroppers. The performance also incorporated seventies disco music and male nudity. In interview, Alexander had this to say: : “That production caused a huge stirring, some absolutely despising what I’d done with it and others absolutely loving it – and from that point on I knew I was on the right track. I was even threatened with legal action by the Beckett Foundation if I continued with it! This of course only caused me to fortify my resolve.

''Eh Joe'' is the fourth and final play in a collection of short Beckett plays at the
New York Theatre Workshop __NOTOC__ New York Theatre Workshop (NYTW) is an Off-Broadway theatre noted for its productions of new works. Located at 79 4th Street (Manhattan), East 4th Street between Second Avenue (Manhattan), Second Avenue and Bowery in the East Village, ...
directed by
JoAnne Akalaitis JoAnne Akalaitis (born June 29, 1937, in Cicero, Illinois) is an avant-garde Lithuanian-American theatre director and writer. She won five Obie Awards for direction (and sustained achievement) and was founder in 1970 of the critically acclaimed M ...
, starring
Mikhail Baryshnikov Mikhail Nikolayevich Baryshnikov ( rus, Михаил Николаевич Барышников, p=mʲɪxɐˈil bɐ'rɨʂnʲɪkəf; lv, Mihails Barišņikovs; born January 28, 1948) is a Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic, Soviet Latvian-born R ...
and featuring new music by
Philip Glass Philip Glass (born January 31, 1937) is an American composer and pianist. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential composers of the late 20th century. Glass's work has been associated with minimal music, minimalism, being built up fr ...
. The quartet, which started performances in December 2007, begins with ''
Act Without Words I ''Act Without Words I'' is a short play by Samuel Beckett. It is a mime, Beckett's first (followed by '' Act Without Words II''). Like many of Beckett's works, the play was originally written in French (''Acte sans paroles I''), being translate ...
'', ''
Act Without Words II ''Act Without Words II'' is a short mime play by Samuel Beckett, his second (after '' Act Without Words I''). Like many of Beckett's works, the piece was originally composed in French (''Acte sans paroles II''), then translated into English by B ...
'', and ''Rough for Theatre I'' before finishing with ''Eh Joe''. Karen Kandel plays the Voice. The New York Theatre Workshop and the aforementioned Kraine Theatre are in adjacent buildings on the theatre-rich Fourth Street Arts Block between Second Avenue and the
Bowery The Bowery () is a street and neighborhood in Lower Manhattan in New York City. The street runs from Chatham Square at Park Row, Worth Street, and Mott Street in the south to Cooper Square at 4th Street in the north.Jackson, Kenneth L. "B ...
in Manhattan


References


External links


Full text of the play
{{beckett 1965 plays Theatre of the Absurd Plays by Samuel Beckett Faber and Faber books