Lauded Pan Pan Theatre brings Beckett’s ‘Embers’ to BAM Sept. 17
“Embers” is a theatricalized presentation of an early radio play by the legendary absurdist author, Samuel Beckett, staged by the Pan Pan Theatre Company. First broadcast in 1959, the play opens with Henry, sitting on a beach and remembering stories and incidents from his life. Tormented by his father’s suicide, his dysfunctional marriage and family and his failure as a writer, his attempts to find salvation falter. His recollections and reality merge into a murky void, where ever-shifting mental leaps, ruminations, ambiguities and unfinished memories—real and fictional—coalesce.
This U.S. premiere, coming to the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) on Sept. 17, combines Aedín Cosgrove’s dramatic and transformative lighting design with contemporary sound art and pre-recorded sound bites. The internal dialogue of the narrator’s “skullscape” is realized onstage as a bleak, imposing set in the form of a giant wooden skull with hollow eyes by sculptor Andrew Clancy. The two actors, Andrew Bennett and Áine Ní Mhuirí, playing the main character Henry and his deceased wife Ada—remain onstage for the hour-long work, their faces barely visible through the eyes of the monolithic skull.
The production is directed by Gavin Quinn, the sculpture created by Andrew Clancy, the lighting design by Aedín Cosgrove and sound design by Jimmy Eadie.
Performances will take place from Sept. 17 to 20 at the BAM Harvey Theater (651 Fulton St. in Fort Greene). Shows begin at 7:30 p.m. and tickets start at $35.
A special talk titled “Beckett at BAM: A Look into the BAM Hamm Archives” will take place on Sept. 18 at 6 p.m. at BAM Fisher (Hillman Studio), 321 Ashland Place. For further details on scheduling and tickets, visit bam.org.
