On Beckett

McCarter Theatre will host the tour premiere performance of the Tony Award winning Bill Irwin in his acclaimed solo production ON BECKETT. Actor, director, writer and clown, Irwin’s production will be presented in partnership with Princeton University’s Lewis Center for the Arts.

In On Beckett, Irwin combines his renowned skill as a master clown and dramatic actor to explore a performer’s relationship to the works of Samuel Beckett, incorporating passages from various works by the Irish writer and playwright, including Waiting for Godot, Texts for Nothing, and Watt.

Irwin’s original stage works include The Regard of Flight, The Happiness Lecture, and Old Hats. He won Broadway’s Best Actor Tony Award for Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf, and picked up a second statue for Fool Moon (created with David Shiner) which earned four Tony nominations. His many television credits include Elmo’s World (as Mr. Noodle and Legion (Mr. Loudermilk), and his film credits range from Rachel Getting Married to The Grinch Who Stole Christmas. His many awards include one of the MacArthur Foundation’s “genius” grants.  

This production premiered at Irish Repertory Theatre in New York City on October 3, 2018. On Beckett was originally developed at the American Conservatory Theater (ACT) in San Francisco in consultation with Artistic Director Carey Perloff, and produced at the Strand Theater in January 2017. On Beckett was also workshopped at Vineyard Theatre and the Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle. A subsequent production was mounted at Center Theatre Group in Los Angeles in 2019.