On Beckett NYC Reviews and Tickets
Show-Score Member Reviews (63)
See it if you enjoy Beckett, Godot and/or Irwin.
Don't see it if you don't like lectures or clowning.
See it if you like good theater, Becket, Bill Irwin or just intelligent yet funny entertainment.
Don't see it if you really hate Becket. Only reason. Read more
See it if for an actor's sparkling analysis of Beckett's haunting speeches, silences, direction--and laughter of the best kind. Irwin rocks.
Don't see it if you dislike Beckett or slapstick or won't appreciate deep analysis of his forever-cutting-edge work from an actor's viewpoint. Read more
See it if Experience a true master class by a virtuoso of mime, clowning, acting & Beckett; you want to learn & be entertained; Irwin is mesmerizing.
Don't see it if Honestly, I don't know why you wouldn't want to see this unless you dislike Irwin and/or Beckett, good acting, clowning, learning and magic. Read more
See it if you have seen Samuel Beckett’s “Waiting for Godot” and want to explore his work with Bill Irwin a masterful interpreter of Beckett.
Don't see it if “Serious” theater and Existentialist grappling with insanity are not for you. Read more
See it if you want to spend 90 minutes completely engrossed in watching and listening to Bill Irwin perform and elucidate Beckett's works.
Don't see it if you need a big cast to provide a full presentation. Alone on stage (with just a little assist), Mr. Irwin is more than sufficient. Read more
See it if A masterclass about Beckett, language and performance from the great Bill Irwin. Both personal and universal. Very touching with some humor.
Don't see it if If you have no interest in the playwright, clowning, or intense one-man shows in small theaters.
See it if You want to see Bill Irwin's walk a fine line between interpreting Beckett intellectually and clowning. 90 minutes of pure bliss!
Don't see it if You don't like Beckett or clowns.
Critic Reviews (22)
“The show illuminates the notoriously opaque writings of Beckett without ever betraying their ineffable heart. In like manner, Irwin opens up his bag of performer’s tricks and even spills them out for our inspection...A replete bill of fare, filled with perceptive and appealingly humble observations on bringing Beckett’s language to life...The toil, according to Beckett, may be tedious and futile. But Mr. Irwin also gives us the pure, energizing joy in the playing of it."
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"The impression is of an intimate but very careful love...This is Beckett-olatry, and his reverence sometimes keeps a lid on the emotion of the material...In this generous, sweet-spirited lecture, then, we can’t quite reach the mental space where Beckett’s mystery operates. Yet Irwin points to it and, with incredible craft, offers a tantalizing glimpse of performances yet to come. If he doesn’t quite give us Beckett’s cold darkness, at least he offers us the warmth of a votive flame.”
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“Utterly delightful...With candor and poignancy, Irwin pulls back the curtain on the process of performing Beckett’s ‘famously difficult’ texts. Infinitely expressive body, bowler hat, and baggy pants are his primary tools. With them, he cracks Beckett open and invites us to step inside...Irwin is like a magician revealing how the trick is done — and somehow rendering it all the more magical...A delicious piece of theater. Picture a top-notch TED Talk crossed with a clown show...Deeply funny.”
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"Irwin's masterful renditions, which he infuses with vaudevillian shtick and hilarious clowning, make Beckett's words bloom not just with humor but with poignant emotion...Beckett's unending inquiry into the awareness of one's whereness, with all the potentially terrifying existential questions that such an investigation can raise, has never seemed more approachable than in Irwin's thought-provoking one-man show...‘On Beckett’ is master class on and by a master. Shouldn't be missed.”
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“’On Beckett’ has its graceful moments, but the trouble with Beckett is that you have to take him as you find him, or not at all. His works defy explanation and resist being taken out of context...Irwin comes across as a gushing fan. His enthusiasm is laudable, infectious, but it does little for one's appreciation of Beckett...Enjoyable more for its star than its subject, ‘On Beckett’ is probably the sweetest tribute...Whether that is a good thing or not is debatable, but Irwin remains a pleasure."
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"Thoroughly enjoyable...At a tight 90-minutes it's just the right length, allowing audiences the time to immerse themselves in Beckett's existentialist musings without becoming mentally overloaded by his syntax and subtext...Irwin gives a master class in both performing and interpreting Beckett that young actors and lovers of literature won't want to miss."
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“The multi-tasking Irish-American artist offers an homage to his visionary idol that is both deeply personal and defiantly, even exuberantly accessible...Irwin’s talents in the latter capacity contribute greatly to the energy and humor abundant in ‘On Beckett’...Irwin’s fluid, witty physicality and evocative facial expressions lend character and color to all his readings, not to mention a brief, hilarious dance segment.”
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“Part lecture, part performance, part clowning...A master class on the absurdist works of Samuel Beckett...It not only shakes out Beckett's enigmatic craft but reveals the impact that he has had on Irwin's artistic life...It's hard to single out a best moment...’On Beckett’ sees Irwin scoring time and again as he celebrates his deep artistic bond...Without diluting any of his art, he casts a new light on it and infuses it with his own American voice. And that alone deserves a hallelujah.”
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