Beckett in the City: The Women Speak

for a previous production “Scaife proves herself a theatre artist of breathtaking talent and compass…A searing, draining experience, with Scaife's direction of each of the plays offering new insights, no matter how familiar one may be with both text and performance…A perfect setting for the actors who cry out from memory and for recognition. In Scaife's hands, this place is both their soul and their body…Ni Neachtain's cadences are devastating." Full Review

for a previous production “A production that focuses on atmosphere and lighting, while keeping the words of the master at its heart...They are rewarding and complex pieces. The lighting is one of the more striking things, and also the use of projections onto the walls of the building...The performances are varied, with one piece being a crash of words and the next slow and thoughtful. This is a subtle and rich show that could take repeated viewing, and a treat for any Beckett fan.” Full Review

for a previous production “‘The Women Speak’ achingly articulates the ramshackle body of the female in nationalist Ireland…That all these calamities run into ‘Come and Go,’ a choreographed drama about three gossipy women on a bench, brings new consequence…‘I can feel the rings’ claims one of them at the end, though according to Beckett's instructions none are apparent. Yet there are circular lines in Scaife's haunting production: those repeated tragedies of Ireland's women, still revolving today.” Full Review

for a previous production “Beckett could resemble just another punishing patriarchal figure. But Company SJ’s continuing project…recognizes his grim sense of empathy, here summoning a political contour for these glimpses of incarceration, burden, and disintegration…Under Scaife’s careful direction, fine performances allow for elucidating echoes…When the performers finally convene on old school chairs for 'Come and Go,' a Möbius strip of birth, struggle and death, the intent comes full circle.” Full Review

for a previous production “Scaife makes some wonderfully innovative use of this near-derelict building…‘Not I’…is too interested in accentuation and timbre….All three actors…execute ‘Come and Go’ with studied grace yet it is here that the venue served the production least well…Although the entreatment to consider Beckett’s representations of women in relation to a specifically Irish history of marginalization is unconvincing, ‘The Women Speak’ movingly reminds us of the humanizing power of Beckett’s work.” Full Review