Monday 22 December 2014

A Sad Triad

Today is the 25th anniversary of Samuel Beckett's death and, by grim chronal coincidence, news comes of the death of Billie Whitelaw, his 'perfect actress', who rose gloriously to the challenges of his fiercely concentrated late dramas - and the photographer Jane Bown, who captured perhaps the greatest of all images of Beckett (above). It was, incredibly, a stage door shot, caught as Beckett exited the Royal Court during rehearsals for a 70th birthday production of Happy Days.

3 comments:

  1. During his late stint as a primary school teacher my father used that image for English projects. He put it on the wall and asked the children to write a story about the person (not telling them who it was). I think the most popular guess was that it was a fisherman.

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  2. Ah it must have been that sea-going polo neck and the far-seeing gull's eyes...

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  3. It looks like he's waiting for something.

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