The Irish Literary Times

Beckett at the Festival is a major programme of the Irish author’s TV, radio and fiction works adapted for the stage. Beckett at the Festival is a major programme of the Irish author’s TV, radio and fiction works adapted for the stage. Inevitably, given the scale of the project and the affection Beckett commands in theatre, there are impressive names in the lineup – and the companies behind the productions (Gate Theatre, Dublin and Pan Pan Theatre) have established themselves as being vibrant bearers of Beckett’s flame.

Eh Joe is perhaps the biggest pull: starring Michael Gambon (The King’s Speech) as the man in a dressing gown facing his past alone. Directed by Atom Egoyan – better known for his films which owe a great deal to Beckett’s absurdism – Eh Joe was originally a TV play but shares the unflinching moral intensity of Krapp’s Last Tape.

Nobel Laureate Seamus Heaney's new translation of Beowulf comes to life in this gripping audio. Heaney's performance reminds us that Beowulf, written near the turn of another millennium, was intended to be heard not read.

Composed toward the end of the first millennium of our era, Beowulf is the elegiac narrative of the adventures of Beowulf, a Scandinavian hero who saves the Danes from the seemingly invincible monster Grendel and, later, from Grendel's mother. He then returns to his own country and lives to old age before dying in a vivid fight against a dragon. - HighBridge Audio