From the Cradle to the Grave
on the Francis J. Greenburger Mainstage
Three Short Plays by Samuel Beckett
Directed by Ciarán O’Reilly
Featuring F. Murray Abraham, Roger Dominic Casey, Kate Forbes, and Sarah Street
January 15 – JUST EXTENDED March 16, 2025
Three short plays that run the gamut of existence, from birth to the afterlife.
NOT I
“Practically speechless….all her days.”
A non-verbal woman, abandoned by her parents at birth and resigned to an uneventful life, suddenly hears voices at the age of 70 and realizes it’s she who is speaking.
PLAY
“We were not long together when she smelled the rat.”
Eternally together in the afterlife and locked in their urns, a man, his wife, and his mistress relay the sordid details of their love triangle.
KRAPP’S LAST TAPE
“Perhaps my best years are gone…But I wouldn’t want them back. Not with the fire in me now. No, I wouldn’t want them back.”
Krapp (F. Murray Abraham), an aged man, reviews his life with the assistance of his younger self, heard on autobiographical tape recordings.
[A] collection of three one-acts about mortality and memory, smartly directed by Ciarán O’Reilly and including “Krapp’s Last Tape,” starring an understatedly masterful F. Murray Abraham… Even the lighting (designed by Michael Gottlieb) is precisely as Beckett demands […] it works brilliantly… – Laura Collins-Hughes, The New York Times
F. Murray Abraham gives a riveting performance… Sarah Street performs this unfathomably daunting monologue [in Not I‘] with impressive speed and clarity… The actors scale the strange heights of the play’s inherent difficulties with aplomb. – Charles Isherwood, Wall Street Journal
[A] precisely judged anthology…Abraham is a master craftsman. – Helen Shaw, The New Yorker
Whether you’re a Beckett buff or not, you need to see this. – Pete Hempstead, TheaterMania
Krapp’s Last Tape… played now by F. Murray Abraham, this Krapp has to be ranked one of the best ever. – David Finkle, New York Stage Review
Expertly helmed by Irish Rep’s producing director, Ciarán O’Reilly, this collection poses the burning existential questions that inform Beckett’s work with a grace and buoyancy that serve both its playful absurdism and its fundamental, exquisite bleakness. – Elysa Gardner, NY Sun
Street is a particular standout doing double duty as the solo performer in Not I and one third of the cast in Play. In both plays, she embraces with enthusiasm Beckett’s playfulness with words and language. – Patrick Maley, Exeunt
Beckett fans shouldn’t miss this expert production – Zach Adams, 100 Word Review
