The Hay Festival is happening in Kells for the first time this weekend. This literary festival also includes a production of Beckett’s Not I performed by Lisa Dwan. In a recent Guardian article, she describes this play as a “short, intense play, where an actor is suspended in utter darkness except for her disembodied mouth spewing a torrent, a stream of consciousness. The mouth appears to float about the stage.” And if that doesn’t make you want to see it, read the rest of the article for see what an extraordinary piece of theatre this is. The history of the play and dedication of the those who have performed it is fascinating.

I also realised that I had forgotten to include the Happy Days Enniskillen International Beckett Festival (22 – 26 August) in my festival post. Last year was the first year of this festival and it was very exciting, very successful and had loads of interesting things going on. They haven’t announced the full programme for this year yet, but have realised some details. It will include another Not I – Neil Jordan’s multi-screen installation, featuring Julianne Moore, Romeo Castelluci’s Paradiso and Robert Wilson’s Winona Ryder video portrait. There will also be performances of Beckett plays from Portuguese, Australian and Irish companies.