Rearranged by Andrew Synnott
Text/libretto by Samuel Beckett
The Last Tape is Marcel Mihalovici’s operatic collaboration with Samuel Beckett. Internationally acclaimed Irish theatre company Gare St Lazare Ireland continues its interdisciplinary exploration of the great Irish writer’s work, combining music, theatre and the visual arts. This production offers a rare opportunity to encounter one of Beckett’s few opera collaborations for its Irish premiere.
On every birthday Krapp makes a tape recording of his thoughts. Now approaching the end of his sixty-ninth year, he listens back to a recording made half a lifetime earlier and is confronted with the choices that led him to privilege some parts of his life over others. In this final tape, he weighs the cost of those decisions.
This production marks the twenty-sixth Beckett production directed by Judy Hegarty Lovett. In this third collaboration with internationally acclaimed singer Mark Padmore – singing the role of Krapp alongside actor Conor Lovett speaking it – they are joined by pianists Ellen Jansson and Izumi Kimura, percussionists Alex Petcu and Glen Lyons, under Grammy-nominated Elaine Kelly conducting Andrew Synnott’s new arrangement of Mihalovici’s original score.
With permissions from the Beckett and Mihalovici estates.
Judy Hegarty Lovett director
Mark Padmore singer
Conor Lovett actor
Elaine Kelly conductor
Izumi Kimura pianist
Ellen Jansson pianist
Alex Petcu percussion
Glen Lyons percussion
Paddy Nolan percussion substitute
Mel Mercier sound designer
Simon Bennison lighting designer
Jesse Presley Jones set designer
Valentina Gambardella costume designer
