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Beckett Week 2019

14/10/2019

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6 - 9 November 2019
Minghella Building, Whiteknights Campus, University of Reading 


Join us this year for Beckett Week at the University of Reading! If you're a fan of Beckett's work, there will be something for you here. We will have world premieres of works by Creative Fellows Tim Parkinson and Robert McCrum, as well as a Beckett inspired performance by Rosetta Life that explores embodiment and fragility among stroke survivors. There is also the annual BIF (Beckett International Foundation) Seminar, and an exciting new international conference series: Beckett and Italy. For more information and to book, see the details below.


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ROBERT McCRUM
Wednesday 6 November
7.30 - 9.00 pm


This event will showcase the work of Robert McCrum, who has held a Beckett Creative Fellowship at the Centre across the last academic year. The evening will begin with a staged reading from Robert’s work-in-progress, Full Moon, a play he has been developing during his time at the Centre. It is directed by Michael Hoffman, and David Threlfall will play Beckett.

The performance will be followed by a presentation and Q&A, during which Robert will reflect on his own writing and his experience of discovering Beckett's works through the archives held here. The evening will conclude with a wine reception.

This event is free to all. Please book your ticket via this link. For more information about the event, please contact Professor Steven Matthews (Director of the Samuel Beckett Centre) by 1 November: s.matthews@reading.ac.uk.


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BECKETT & ITALY
Thursday 7 November - Friday 8 November
9.30 am - 6.00 pm


This two-day event is the first of an important two-conference international series that re-assesses the influence of Italian culture, literature, poetry, theatre, arts and cinema on Samuel Beckett’s work, and the impact this work has had on Italian culture.

A full programme for the conference is available here.

​For more information and to book, please click here and select your ticket(s) from the options. 


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TIM PARKINSON
Thursday 7 November
7.00 - 8.30 pm


Join us for the world premiere of Tim Parkinson's "string quartet 2019", performed by Plus Minus Ensemble. This exciting new work was composed during Tim's time as a Creative Fellow at the Centre. 

The event will include a Q&A session, during which Tim will reflect on his compositional processes, as well as the experience of exploring Beckett's works through the archive here. The evening will conclude with a wine reception.


This event is free to all. Please book your ticket via this link. For more information about the event, please contact Professor Steven Matthews (Director of the Samuel Beckett Centre) by 1 November: s.matthews@reading.ac.uk.


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ROSETTA LIFE
Friday 8 November
6.00 - 7.00 pm


Join us for an exciting and innovative performance of "This.Here" by Rosetta Life, an 
exploration of fragility and embodiment amongst stroke survivors. You can also book on to a Taster Session with Rosetta Life, hosted by the University of Reading, on Wednesday 6 November, 2.30 - 5.00 pm: 
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/stroke-odysseys-tickets-76247744055.

Rosetta Life is a group of artists who aim to change the perception and stigma of illness and disability. They work with people living with life-limiting illness to shape and share their stories through movement, song, image, film and writing. 

Lucinda Jarrett and some of the performers from Rosetta Life will join us for a roundtable discussion about their initiative and performance on Saturday 9 November at 3.30pm, as part of the Beckett International Foundation Research Seminar. See below for details.

This performance event is free to all. Please book your ticket via this link. 


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BECKETT INTERNATIONAL FOUNDATION RESEARCH SEMINAR
Saturday 9 November
10.30 am - 5.00 pm


Join us for the 31st annual Beckett International Foundation Research Seminar to explore a range of current research and debates in the field of Beckett Studies. As in previous years, speakers represent a mixture of research students, as well as established scholars, local and international. Each paper will be followed by 30 minutes of discussion.

See the programme below:

10.30 – 11.00:
Registration / Welcome


11.00 – 12.00:
Dirk Van Hulle (University of Oxford / University of Antwerp):
'Shakespeare in Beckett’s Library'


12.00 – 12.15:
Tea / Coffee Break


12.15 – 1.15:
Will Davies (University of Reading):
'War and the Everyday in Waiting for Godot'


1.15 – 2.15:
Lunch


2.15 – 3.15:
Laura Salisbury (University of Exeter):
'Between Can’t and Must: Beckett, Disabled Language and the Temporalities of Care'


3.15 – 3.30:
Tea / Coffee Break


3.30 – 5.00:
Roundtable
with Lucinda Jarrett of Rosetta Life and some of the performers.
Chaired by Anna McMullan:
'"This.Here": An exploration of fragility and embodiment amongst stroke survivors'


For more information, please contact: Dr Mark Nixon: m.nixon@reading.ac.uk.
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This event is £30 per participant (£15 unwaged), including lunch and refreshments throughout the day. Please book your ticket by 2pm on Friday 1 November via this link. 

​We look forward to seeing you. 

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Where am I in all of this? -- Musician and composer Tim Parkinson reflects on Beckett's work and archive

12/4/2019

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​In May 2018, the musician and composer Tim Parkinson began work as the Beckett Centre's second Creative Fellow. As an experimental composer Tim is very much aware of the tradition of music associated with Beckett’s works, captured most famously by the American composer Morton Feldman. Samples of Tim’s work, together with interviews and articles, can be accessed from his website.

His Fellowship follows the pattern established by our Inaugural Fellow, the award-winning writer Eimear McBride. Tim will produce regular reflections on his creative processes and evolving relationship with Beckett's work through the archive materials held at the University of Reading. You can read his ongoing reflections below:

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Announcing 'Mouthpieces' by Eimear McBride

5/4/2019

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We're thrilled to announce that 'Mouthpieces', the new work by Eimear McBride, written during her inaugural Creative Fellowship at the Samuel Beckett Research Centre, has recently been broadcast by RTE radio. It is performed by Aoife Duffin and Eimear McBride. 

https://www.rte.ie/drama/radio/plays/2019/0324/1038351-mouthpieces-by-eimear-mcbride/ 

To listen to McBride and Duffin discussing the triptych of miniature plays on RTE's In the Wings, click on the link below:

https://www.rte.ie/drama/radio/plays/2019/0324/1038406-in-the-wings-mouthpieces-by-eimear-mcbride/
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BECKETT WEEK 2018

9/11/2018

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22 – 24 November 2018


  • Modernist Archives in Context: Periodicals and Performance
  • Q&A with award-winning novelist, Eimear McBride 
  • Celebrating the 30th Anniversary of the Beckett International Foundation
 
Registration is now open for our annual Beckett Week conference, Modernist Archives in Context: Periodicals and Performance. A full programme will be published soon.

KEYNOTES
Our two keynotes will be delivered by Professor Andrew Thacker (Nottingham Trent University) and Dr Jonathan Herron (University of Warwick). 

WORKSHOPS
There will be two workshops:
  1. "Periodical Cultures in transition" - led by Dr Adam Guy (University of Oxford)
  2. "The Billie Whitelaw Archive and Staging Beckett" - led by Dr Matthew McFrederick (University of Reading and University of the Arts London)

EXHIBITION
During the conference, there will also be an exhibition with paintings by Avigdor Arikha, Henri Hayden, Geer van Velde, and Matias, as well as artists’ books and a selection of notebooks and letters from the Beckett archive. 
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Q&A WITH EIMEAR MCBRIDE
Thursday 22nd November
A reception to celebrate the exciting Creative Fellowship programme launched by the University of Reading’s Samuel Beckett Research Centre. All conference delegates and limited members of the public are invited to attend. This event will feature a Q&A with the award-winning novelist Eimear McBride, the first recipient of a Beckett Creative Fellowship.


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BECKETT INTERNATIONAL FOUNDATION 30th ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION
Saturday 24th November 
The Beckett International Foundation will be holding a seminar with invited speakers, 
Dr Julie Bates (Trinity College Dublin), 
Dr Lucy Jeffery (University of Reading), 
Dr Pim Verhulst (University of Antwerp), and Professor Shane Weller (University of Kent).

REGISTRATION
For conference fees and registration please follow the link:
https://www.store.reading.ac.uk/conferences-and-events/faculty-of-arts-humanities-social-science/english-literature-department/modernist-archives-in-context
For BIF Seminar fees and registration, contact m.nixon@reading.ac.uk.
Please note that registration for the BIF Seminar is separate to the conference and Q&A session. More information is available from Dr Mark Nixon.

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Beyond the Fourth Wall - Experiments in TV Drama: Samuel Beckett’s Plays on BBC TV

8/8/2018

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Samuel Beckett is probably best known as a theatre dramatist, but there is a long history of BBC TV presenting dramas that he wrote for specifically for the medium, and also television adaptations of his theatre work (Bignell 2009). In its 2012 season of screenings titled ‘Beyond the Fourth Wall: Experiments in TV Drama’, the British Film Institute screened a selection that comprised Beckett’s original television play Eh Joe (BBC 1966), and an episode of the arts series The Lively Arts (BBC 1977) that includes three of his dramas.  These are visually distinctive plays, worthy of the term ‘experimental’, and the story of how they were made and received reveals fascinating relationships between Beckett, the BBC and different groups of viewers.
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    Welcome to the Beckett Centre Blog!

    ​Based at the University of Reading (UK) the Beckett Centre is an interdisciplinary hub for the advancement of creative and scholarly engagement with the works of the Nobel Prize-winning writer Samuel Beckett. ​

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