
Not I, Catastrophe and Rockaby
by Samuel Beckett
produced by Angel Theatre Company
directed by John Patterson
A disembodied mouth suspended in mid-air spews out dialogue at ferocious pace…
An autocratic director and his assistant put the finishing touches to their final scene…
A woman recounts her past, driven by the motion of her rocking chair…
Following their critically acclaimed sell-out run of Beckett’s Footfalls and Play at The Jack Studio in 2019, Angel Theatre Company return with three more of his short plays: Not I, Catastrophe and Rockaby.
This trio offers a unique insight into the fascinating theatrical world of Samuel Beckett. His plays revolutionised theatre and secured his place as one of the greatest dramatists of the twentieth century. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1969.
NOMINATED FOR BEST DIRECTOR, JOHN PATTERSON, OFF WEST END AWARDS 2020
Press for Not I, Catastrophe & Rockaby
The Beckett sandwich that Patterson has assembled is cleverly constructed and brilliantly acted. Not I, Catastrophe and Rockaby is a triumph for Patterson, his talented Angel Theatre Company and Jack Studio. Four Beckett plays surely beckon next year. ★★★★ Close up Culture
What it is, is a dramatic disquisition on the human compulsion to tell stories, to find a way to sum up our existence, our worth, our meaning, through torrents of words that gleam like jewels against the somberest of backdrops… Not I is a ferociously hard acting challenge, and Samantha Kamras absolutely nailed it…Rockaby is intense and unforgiving. It is quite hard to watch an actor visibly decaying at such close quarters. Anna Bonnett carried it off superbly – tiny, precise, minimal expressions carrying a weight of history and despair… Angel Theatre Company do the Master of Minimalism proud ★★★★ London Pub Theatres
Angel Theatre Company bring Beckett to Brockley and leave this reviewer looking forward to more… a frenetic, captivating hour of stranged words and striking images… it rolls round in your head and pictures come in and out of focus in one’s memory, ideas step forward and recede, characters (and these are characters for all their strange untetheredness) emerge. ★★★★ Broadway World
All three short, reflective plays are slickly performed within the hour: not a moment longer than required and at the same time, distinctly unrushed… there is food for thought in these brief, nuanced and assured performances.★★★★ London Theatre 1
Creative Team
Not I, Catastrophe and Rockaby by Samuel Beckett
Directed by John Patterson
Produced by Angel Theatre Company
Cast
Anna Bonnett – Woman in Rockaby
Joanna Clarke – Assistant in Catastrophe
Stephen Donald – Director in Catastrophe
Louis Fox – Protagonist in Catastrophe
Samantha Kamras – Mouth in Not I