“The tongue gets clogged with
mud”—and Samuel Beckett’s enigmatic, little-known short story The Image, begins.
In a much-anticipated U.S. Premiere by rising star director Arthur Nauzyciel, Mr.
Beckett’s radical foray into the limits of communication leaps to life, translated afresh for
three vivid performers: actress Lou Doillon, dancer Damien Jalet, and musician Mileece.
But how to translate the untranslatable? A single sentence stretched to the absolute breaking
point of language, Mr. Beckett’s pockmarked text careens from corner to dim corner, carving
out a space in which meaning is always only the yet-to-be.
In the grass-covered Le Skyroom,
Mr. Nauzyciel’s brilliant production
gives sound,
flesh, and
form to Beckett’s vertiginous
sentence. This
production
honors The
Image’s
alluring strangeness
while offering
a prolonged
glimpse over
the edge of
its infinitely
dark abyss.
Production
by
Centre Dramatique
National /
Orléans-Loiret-Centre,
Compagnie 41
751.
|
Étant
donnés, the French-American Fund for the Performing Arts is proud to present The Image.