How It Is: Part Two (2019)

A Co-production with The Coronet Theatre (London) in Association with The Everyman

3 – 7 SEP 2019

A stage rendition of Beckett’s novel by Gare St Lazare

Following the success of How It Is (Part 1), nominated at the Irish Times Theatre Awards for Best Production and Best Actor (Stephen Dillane) and Winner of Best Soundscape (Mel Mercier) and Best Lighting (Kris Stone), developed over 3 years as Artists in Residence at The Everyman, Cork’s own Beckett specialists returned with Part 2 of this towering novel.

A man lies in the mud, in the dark. He repeats his life as he hears it, uttered by a voice, telling how it was. Memories surface, of life above in the light, but whose memories? Whose life?

Samuel Beckett’s 1963 novel How It Is keeps delighting readers and confounding scholars.  With How It Is (Part 2), director Judy Hegarty Lovett and actor Conor Lovett continue their collaboration with composer/sound designer Mel Mercier and actor Stephen Dillane (Game of Thrones/The Crown).

Joined by The Irish Gamelan Orchestra and singer Mark Padmore, Gare St Lazare offered a new way to access Beckett while placing the beautiful The Everyman theatre centre-stage.

★★★★★ “Expertly directed by Judy Hegarty Lovett. Gare St Lazare and their collaborators deserve to be congratulated, and cherished, for their uncompromising artistic vision and continued championing of Beckett’s work — as does the Everyman for facilitating this ambitious staging” – Irish Examiner (Read full review HERE)

★★★★ – The Irish Times (Read review HERE)

“imaginative, radical, rigorous, and uncompromising” – The Beckett Circle (Read full review HERE)

Cast and Creative Team

Presented by Gare St Lazare Ireland
Written by Samuel Beckett
Directed and designed by Judy Hegarty Lovett
Text performed by Conor Lovett and Stephen Dillane
Music composed by Mel Mercier with the Irish Gamelan Orchestra
Music performed by Mel Mercier, the Irish Gamelan Orchestra, Mark Padmore, Nick Roth and Claudia Schwab
Lighting designed by Mick Hurley
Produced by Maura O’Keeffe
Photo by Ros Kavanagh