The Gare St Lazare Beckett Lab.

Applying over 25 years of expertise in the plays and prose of Samuel Beckett, we have developed a method of introducing and teaching Beckett’s theatre to students which also works as a general approach to physical theatre. Beckett’s prescriptive stage directions are used as a positive force to demonstrate the clarity, rhythm, musicality and visual inventiveness of Beckett’s work in a way that actors can easily understand and apply to any form of theatre. Using scene study as the primary tool and exercises developed by the company as well as those from Ecole Jacques Lecoq and Philippe Gaulier, Conor and Judy give students a way to discover Beckett, perform and direct his work and realise that not only is it within their reach but their input is vital to understanding exactly how Beckett’s influence pervades almost all contemporary art forms.

To observe our work this summer in Paris or to enquire about booking a workshop or residency, please get in touch.

Workshops/Masterclasses/Class Visits

The artistic directors regularly visit universities and colleges teaching and sharing their expertise.

The company has toured performances to universities and colleges in USA, UK, China, Germany, France and Ireland and offers an outreach programme that includes Teaching Engagements, Masterclasses, Class Visits, Post-Show Discussions and staff, student and donor hospitality events.  

To find out more about our outreach contact us.

Recent Outreach

Montclair State University, Beckett Lab, September 2019.

UFL Gainesville, Workshops & PK Yonge, Highschool/Middleschool workshops October 2019

Middlebury College, Beckett Lab, September 2019.

How It Is Symposiua 2018 Paris, and 2019 Cork, 2020 will take place at Reading University on May 4th 2020.

Beckett Laboratory, National Theater Institute, Eugene O’Neill Center, Waterford, Connecticut 2015 - 2018

Fordham, New York, Class visits November 2017.

Guest Lecturers, Cork School of Music, Theatre Studies BA 2014 and 2018.

Theatre Company in Residence at University College Cork, School of Music and Theatre 2011 - 2016. 

Symposium on Waiting For Godot, co-organised with Glucksman House, NYU 2015

Gare St Lazare have hosted an internships for theatre students from National University of Ireland, Galway (NUIG) and UCC. In 2018 through our residency at The Everyman Theatre Cork, we hired an intern to work on international touring, irish touring and on the development and rehearsal of How It Is (Part 1).

Mentorships.

As Artists in Residence at The Everyman, Cork from 2015 - 2018, we mentored 6 emerging artists.

Acting training

Our teaching concentrates on equipping the performer with a simplicity and a sense of being in control of the information they communicate to an audience, as well as a sense of play, of readiness and of complicity with fellow actors. We encourage actors to embrace audience, writer and director, using techniques developed by the company as well as exercises from the Ecole International de Theatre Jacques Lecoq and elsewhere.