2008—2016
Directed & designed by Judy Hegarty Lovett
CAST
Conor Lovett
Lighting by Judy Hegarty Lovett (2008/2010)
Lighting by Sarah Jane Shiels (2011)
Lighting by Simon Bennison (2014/2016)
The End is a short story by Samuel Beckett in which a man recounts an episode late in his life when, having been expelled from an institution of care, he finds his own way in the world. He meets a variety of characters and situations before finally lying down to let life ebb away. It is one of Beckett's most complete, most compelling and most beautiful works and is a Gare St Lazare Ireland favourite. The End premiered at Kilkenny Arts Festival in 2008 and has toured to Edinburgh, London, Dublin, Brighton, Paris, California, New Hampshire, New York, Massachusetts and to 20 venues in Ireland.
Running time: 85 minutes.
Nominated jointly with Gare St Lazare’s production of First Love for The Judges Special Award at Dublin Theatre Festival 2008.
"Conor Lovett’s command of the stage for this Gare St Lazare production of The End and The Calmative is so apparently effortless as to be relaxing, except that with Samuel Beckett one can never relax. With The End the result is comedy, sly and biting, all the sharper for seeming to come out of hiding and ascending, or descending depending on one’s attitude to Beckett, to actual merriment."
— Irish Times"At this stage, having seen nearly all of their profoundly moving interpretations of Beckett, all attempts at restrained objectivity go out the window. Conor Lovett has refined his technique and his empathy to a degree, which surely makes him one of the world's leading interpreters of the work."
— The Sunday Independent
Photo: Judy Hegarty Lovett