"...there's probably no one you'd rather have perform it than Bill Irwin."
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"The great Bill Irwin is profoundly funny on Samuel Beckett"
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Irwin, a marvel of physicality, has evolved into a modern-day philosopher in baggy pants.
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“The show illuminates the notoriously opaque writings of Beckett without ever betraying their ineffable heart. In like manner, Irwin opens up his bag of performer’s tricks and even spills them out for our inspection...A replete bill of fare, filled with perceptive and appealingly humble observations on bringing Beckett’s language to life...The toil, according to Beckett, may be tedious and futile. But Mr. Irwin also gives us the pure, energizing joy in the playing of it."
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"The impression is of an intimate but very careful love...This is Beckett-olatry, and his reverence sometimes keeps a lid on the emotion of the material...In this generous, sweet-spirited lecture, then, we can’t quite reach the mental space where Beckett’s mystery operates. Yet Irwin points to it and, with incredible craft, offers a tantalizing glimpse of performances yet to come. If he doesn’t quite give us Beckett’s cold darkness, at least he offers us the warmth of a votive flame.”
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“Utterly delightful...With candor and poignancy, Irwin pulls back the curtain on the process of performing Beckett’s ‘famously difficult’ texts. Infinitely expressive body, bowler hat, and baggy pants are his primary tools. With them, he cracks Beckett open and invites us to step inside...Irwin is like a magician revealing how the trick is done — and somehow rendering it all the more magical...A delicious piece of theater. Picture a top-notch TED Talk crossed with a clown show...Deeply funny.”
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"Irwin's masterful renditions, which he infuses with vaudevillian shtick and hilarious clowning, make Beckett's words bloom not just with humor but with poignant emotion...Beckett's unending inquiry into the awareness of one's whereness, with all the potentially terrifying existential questions that such an investigation can raise, has never seemed more approachable than in Irwin's thought-provoking one-man show...‘On Beckett’ is master class on and by a master. Shouldn't be missed.”
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“’On Beckett’ has its graceful moments, but the trouble with Beckett is that you have to take him as you find him, or not at all. His works defy explanation and resist being taken out of context...Irwin comes across as a gushing fan. His enthusiasm is laudable, infectious, but it does little for one's appreciation of Beckett...Enjoyable more for its star than its subject, ‘On Beckett’ is probably the sweetest tribute...Whether that is a good thing or not is debatable, but Irwin remains a pleasure."
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