Adrian Dunbar to curate Samuel Beckett festival in Liverpool

Adrian Dunbar is set to curate a festival dedicated to the work of Samuel Beckett in Liverpool. Titled Beckett: Unbound 2024. The programme will feature four commissioned productions taking place from 30 May – 2 June.

“Engaging with Beckett makes you think about the fundamentals of life,” said Dunbar (via The Guardian). “Those fundamentals are sometimes hard to engage with, but at the end, when he drives everything to a conclusion, he also makes you feel something that is liberating.”

The Line Of Duty actor grew up in Enniskillen, where Beckett went to the Portora Royal school. Dunbar has previously been involved with the Happy Days - Enniskillen International Beckett Festival. In 2022, he programmed the Beckett Confined festival for the University of Liverpool’s institute of Irish studies.

🎭Beckett: Unbound 2024 🎭 is presented by @IrishInstitute and @KeoughGlobalND in association with @TheUnrealCities.
Following on from the performances in Liverpool Beckett: Unbound 2024 will be in Paris at our friends @cc_irlandais from 5 June to 7 June: https://t.co/RazsGuWV6s.

— Irish Studies@LivUni (@IrishInstitute) May 5, 2024

The festival will include Dunbar’s production of All That Fall. Originally written for radio, the play was renowned for utilising the medium to its fullest potential, with the team responsible for the sound effects in the original ’50s production going on the form the core of the BBC’s Radiophonic Workshop. In an attempt to reflect the play’s origins, the actors will perform out of the audience’s sight.

Elsewhere, Irish choreographer Liz Roche presents Sentient, a full-length production based on a passage about dancing bees in Beckett’s Molloy. Rough for Radio II,  recorded by inmates from the Liverpool’s  HM Prison, will be played at an event that will also include a panel discussion on the subject of imprisonment.

After Liverpool, the productions will be brought to Paris from 5-7 June. For more information, visit the University of Liverpool's website here.