07.03.2016
Beckett in Foxrock – Writer’s Early Influences Celebrated in Tullow Church
Residents of Foxrock and Beckett aficionados were treated to a unique insight into the life and formative years of the great Samuel Beckett on Saturday evening (March 5) in Tullow Church. There was a full house for ‘Beckett in Foxrock’, an evening of drama, poetry, prose and music honouring the Nobel Prize winner and one of the world’s most influential writers who was born and brought up in Foxrock.
The event was a collaboration between Tullow Parish and Mouth on Fire Theatre Company. Among the capacity crowd were members of the Beckett family, the Archbishop of Dublin and the Irish Ambassador to France. Samuel Beckett’s neice, Caroline Murphy, unveiled a plaque in the church close to where the family sat while attending worship in Tullow. Archbishop Michael Jackson, who attended Portora Royal School in Enniskillen, where Beckett was a past pupil, spoke at the beginning of the evening.
Archbishop Jackson spoke of the legend and enigma that Beckett was in Portora, where he was primarily remembered for his sporting prowess. He said that while Portora would like to claim Becket, it was clear that the area of Foxrock also influenced the man and his writing. He said that the plaque in the church was an imaginative and appropriate way to remember Beckett and his family and his roots in the locality.
Introducing the evening, Dr Fergal Whelan outlined Beckett’s life from his early years in his family home on Kerrymount Avenue, Foxrock, to his schooling in Enniskillen and time in France.
The evening’s programme featured a selection of Beckett’s poetry, prose and plays performed by Mouth on Fire Theatre Company with actors such as Geraldine Plunkett (Mary in Glenroe) and Marcus Lamb (Padraig Pearse in Rebellion). There were also musical interludes.
A reception afterwards gave the audience a chance to view an exhibition of artifacts and memorabilia associated with Samuel Beckett.
Photo captions:
Top – Archbishop Michael Jackson and Caroline Murphy, Samuel Beckett’s neice, at the plaque in Tullow Church.
Middle – Jane Bowe, one of the organisers, and her daughter, Gillian, who designed the programme and poster.
Bottom – Margaret Breadon, Marie Wallace and Barbara Cooper at Beckett in Foxrock.
More photos at – https://www.facebook.com/DublinandGlendalough/posts/974473935921984
