The contribution that Gare St Lazare Ireland makes to Irish theatre is simply immeasurable. It is no exaggeration to say that some of my most vivid theatre memories have been made sitting in a dark theatre, with Conor and Judy’s magic being woven in the air around me, taking me to worlds old and new. They are treasured by those who have seen their productions, and their dedication to the works of Beckett in particular is an extraordinary achievement. To have toured to so many places, to have embarked on so many successful collaborations, to have kept on making work that thrills and overwhelms for almost quarter of a century, is an achievement that few could have anticipated when they started out. But that we should all be very grateful for. They are unique, there is nobody else like them and the contribution of the Gare St Lazare team should be treasured and nurtured for a long time to come.
Christine Monk, PR and Culture Specialist, Dublin.

Gare St Lazare Ireland have been consistently making high quality work for over two decades now and have demonstrated a deep commitment to their project of exploring Beckett’s work. They masters of the minimal, capable of creating theatrical magic out of seeming nothingness. They have moved in recent years into really interesting collaborative territory with actors, composers and musicians, which has been a rich artistic vein for the company. The experience of working with the company as artists in residence has been hugely valuable for The Everyman in terms of meaningfully learning what it takes to support an artist’s vision and deliver on real partnership. We’re really proud of the truly exceptional work that Gare St Lazare Ireland has conceived and made at The Everyman.
Julie Kelleher, Artistic Director, The Everyman, Cork.

Gare St Lazare Ireland is one of the most important companies we have – an internationally recognised creative force. Conor Lovett is, to me, the greatest living interpreter of Beckett, under Judy Hegarty Lovett’s meticulous and visionary direction. They move easily from the minimal perfection of Lovett’s solo performance to large-scale, ambitious pieces with major artists, both Irish and international. The tiny performance space in their garden outside Paris is one of the most magical theatres I’ve ever visited; a physical manifestation of the poetic dimension that they bring to their work. We need these unique, maverick theatre makers, an essential element in the Irish cultural ecosystem.
Lynne Parker, Artistic Director, Rough Magic Theatre Company.

How it is, Part One, is one of the three finest theatre productions I have ever seen anywhere: intelligent, imaginative, mesmerising. Gare St Lazare are supple collaborators with other artists, and with the buildings in which they perform. They deserve every support.
Judy Kravis, Writer, Publisher and Professor Emeritus of French, University College Cork.

Everyone even remotely interested in Beckett’s work will thrill to the performances of Gare St Lazare Ireland. Thanks to dynamic, perceptive performances of the prose works by the extraordinary Conor Lovett & Judy Hegarty Lovett, audiences enter deep into Beckett’s special world, its humour, its anguish and its infallible humanity.
The Lovetts’ Beckett is not a ‘difficult’ writer; they introduce audiences to the very essence of the author of Molloy, and Waiting For Godot and help us to discover the true world, the true Irish world, of one the greatest writers of modern times. Beckett specialists and those who have followed his works for years discover finer shadings, new intuitions through interpretations that are at once always inventive and always faithful. They will find themselves in a fully familiar landscape and yet will constantly discover new values and unexpected insights. It doesn’t get any better than this.
Tom Bishop, Professor Emeritus, New York University.

The students and I really enjoyed Conor's talk. We are very grateful that he was willing to share his extensive experience as both a performer and thinker about Beckett and "Waiting for Godot." I think most of us walked away with a very different picture of the playwright and the play. He was more human, more compassionate, less harsh in how he saw the natural world. Most importantly, Conor embraced our puzzlement, worked with it, and gently and persuasively led us into the play. Through his personal reflections, he showed how Godot still speaks to us today.
Please pass on our gratitude to him. We would love to see him again, when he returns to Emerson. Professor Charles Oliver, Emerson College, Boston.

Everything I’ve seen by Gare St. Lazare has been extraordinary – the concentrated hour-long enactments of Beckett’s trilogy of novels as unguarded, unsparing monologues, alternately hilarious and heartbreaking, the intensely vivid, daring exploration of the depths of Melville’s Moby-Dick. Conor Lovett’s astonishing performances succeed in bringing the audience into immediate contact with the inner lives of these challenging works, tracing their emotional contours and intricate thought processes and capturing the ravishingly beautiful music of their language. Witnessing any one of these productions is an experience you will never forget. Stephen Donadio, Fulton Professor of Humanities and Director of the Program in Literary Studies at Middlebury College, Vemont and Editor-at-Large, New England Review.

Dedication alone by Gare St Lazare Ireland is almost reason enough to be inspired by their productions but throw into the mix originality, top rate performance, top rate actors, endless enthusiasm and passion and you have it all. Having seen them perform in several countries i cannot think of a better ambassador for Samuel Beckett and for Ireland. I always look forward to a new production. I generally award them five stars.
Marie Donnelly, Art Collector, Former Board Member Irish Museum of Modern Art.

I have enjoyed and appreciated the work of Gare St Lazare Ireland over several decades at performances in Ireland, Scotland, England and France  I am also aware of the company's work in the United States and recognise their increasing presence there.
The company's particular focus is in promoting the work of Samuel Beckett, particularly some of the less familiar texts, in which they combine outstanding theatrical flair and first-class production values with profound scholarship.  I consider that in Judy Hegarty and Conor Lovett the company possesses two of Ireland's most distinguished theatre practitioners.
Although the company is rightly regarded a a leader in their realisations of Beckett's work, they do not confine themselves solely to one writer. One of the most memorable of their productions was at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, the 2014 Title and Deed by Will Eno, a solo performance by Conor Lovett of extraordinarily powerful intensity - so much so that it demanded a second visit.
Sheila Colvin OBE (former Associate Director, Edinburgh International Festival; former General Director Aldeburgh Foundation (now Aldeburgh Music).

A little message expressing my gratitude and admiration for your production of The Beckett Trilogy. Over a week later, I still find myself thinking about your show on numerous occasions throughout the day. It really is a sublime piece of work and I am so thrilled that I got to see it. It is incredibly inspiring to see acting and directing of such a high standard and I cannot wait to see more of your work in the future. Wishing you all the best. Pádraig O’Connor, audience member, at The Beckett Trilogy, Watergate Theatre, Nov 28th 2020.

To whom it may concern, My name is Georganne Aldrich Heller.  I am a theatre producer in New York, Dublin, Los Angeles and London. I have had the honor, and yes I do feel it was an honor, to produce Beckett's Molloy starring Conor Lovett at the Irish Arts Center and other venues. I feel all the incredible praise my production received did not measure up to the greatness of his performance. Nothing could. Judy is a fine director and collectively, their understanding of Beckett is unparalleled.  Working with both of them was a total joy and I hope I will be involved with a future production as well. As you can see my company Irish Theatre and Film has produced endless new productions (please see my website below), but among them, this was one of the finest. The Sunday Times called it "Magnificent", The Herald, "A Triumph".  I couldn't agree more. Georganne A. Heller, Theatre Producer, New York, Dublin, Los Angeles, London. http://www.georgannealdrichheller.com/

Part One of their current production How It Is is one of the most remarkable productions I have seen, in nearly 40 years of theatre-going; not only in terms of its miraculous 'translation' of Beckett's prose onto stage but as an exemplary work of theatrical art, embodying its content, themes and formal enquiry in profoundly moving and brilliantly realised ways. The success of this production was of course acknowledged in four nominations - and two wins - as part of the annual Irish Times Theatre Awards. Having had prior viewing of Part Two in development, and following its world premiere reception in September 2019, I remain assured that this vastly important - and hugely welcome - project continues to flourish and break new performative ground.
Over three decades Gare St Lazare Ireland's commitment to the works of Beckett has been exemplary and acclaimed internationally. Their tireless touring, global reach, reception and ability to achieve so much with modest resources are equally energising and influential. They have also secured significant private and corporate patronage that understands the importance of what they are doing.
As they approach the culmination of this major work - Part Three and the presentation of the complete cycle - I urge you to extend to them the fullest support you are able. It is both a pleasure and a privilege to watch this work being made in our own time, and to be able to assist in-kind and financially is an opportunity surely no imaginative backer would turn down. Gareth Evans, Adjunct Moving Image Curator: Whitechapel Gallery, London. Writer, Editor, Event and Film Producer

As both a creative and an academic writer who works also in translation, I have found Gare Saint Lazare Players an extraordinary source of artistic richness and diversity, especially in the field of Beckett studies, which are constantly evolving, due to their unique sense of collaborative vision. Peter O’Neill, Poet, Scholar and Teacher.

How it is presupposes that it is; all is not lost and from that recognition the unnamable is articulated. The image is imagined. The formless is formed. From the failure to “unword’ literature, Beckett’s text is created. That is how it is. And so it is with Gare St. Lazare Ireland: Reprising the pun of the French title, where Comment c’est is also commencer (to begin), from within the unpunctuated short stanzas, the words, unadapted or reworked to theatricalize the text in any way, come into view. Emanating from the dark mud of which Beckett writes, it is that emanation, that avoidance of fixity or re-presentation (either of character or scene), which renders the Gare St. Lazare Ireland production just what it is: a perpetuated beginning, an extended entry into that ephemeral space where the text itself is seen and heard, where actors are actors not characters, and the visible onstage presence of all involved in making this production what it is invites the viewer’s presence as well. So it is that How It Is, as rendered by Gare St Lazare Ireland, shows itself as a continuous becoming of how it is, and how magisterially it does so! Lois Oppenheim, Professor and Chair, Dept. of Modern Languages and Literatures, Affiliated faculty, Psychology Dept., Montclair State University

GSLI is one of the greatest jewels in the Irish theatrical oeuvre both from an historical and contemporary point of view and encompasses not only the experience of Irish theatre but also that of Europe, especially France and indeed North America. The attention to detail in all their productions and their ability to escort and individual in the audience away to places they never knew existed and in a timelessness of identity is truly remarkable. Any support that can be given to GSLI during this wonderful time in Irish history needs to be supported in every way possible and it is only on a very occasions throughout a nation’s history when the ability to breakdown theatrical and cultural barriers are at their zenith and I have not doubt this is ‘the special time’ that we are currently experiencing in Ireland and this is being spearheaded by Gare St Lazare.
Gerard O’Connor, Consultant Opthalmic Surgeon, Cork.