St. Lazare Players
Gare St Lazare Players Ireland present
First Love
A novella by Samuel Beckett
Directed by Judy Hegarty Lovett
Performed by Conor Lovett
“One could hardly come up with a better human instrument to intone the sonorous waves of Beckett’s blasphemous comic prose than Conor Lovett” Charles McNulty, Los Angeles Times
“A triumph of literary excavation… Judy Hegarty Lovett and her performer have traced every thought within a tangle of prose, ideas and corrosive wit.” The Irish Times
First Love, performed by Conor Lovett and directed by Judy Hegarty Lovett, has been described as a masterpiece of Beckettian perversity. An intriguing look at the idea of male commitment, it is the story of a young man whose eviction from the family home, upon the death of his father, sees him take refuge on a canalside bench where he meets a woman. He quickly develops an infatuation with her but hopes to cure it by moving in with her in order to be “free to think of anything else but her”.
Gare St Lazare Players Ireland are no strangers US touring. During The Beckett Centenary Year of 2006, they performed at Bard College (NY) and UCLA Live alongside Dublin’s Gate Theatre’s Waiting For Godot. They have also performed several times at Rubicon Theatre, Ventura, CA and next summer the company will present First Love at The Long Wharf Theater, New Haven during the Festival of Art and New Ideas. With over 17 Beckett roles in 24 productions worldwide, it will be hard to find a more seasoned Beckett actor.
The company will keep the American theme going as their next production is a solo performance of Moby Dick by Herman Melville. To be performed by Mr Lovett and directed by Ms. Hegarty Lovett, the novel will be adapted freely for the stage by both.
The performances of First Love are supported by Culture Ireland, the national agency for promoting Irish cultural excellence abroad, and by The Arts Council of Ireland. First Love is presented with the kind permission of Georges Borchardt Inc on behalf of The Estate of Samuel
Biographies and Production History.
Gare St Lazare Players Ireland has an international reputation for artistic excellence. The collaborative output of joint artistic directors Judy Hegarty Lovett (director) and Conor Lovett (actor) has earned an international reputation for entirely accessible and faithful renditions of Beckett’s prose that highlight equally the humanity and humour inherent in the work of the Nobel prizewinning author.. The company have represented Irish culture in more venues worldwide than any other Irish theatre company.
The company’s repertory includes 18 Samuel Beckett titles including the prose pieces Molloy, Malone Dies, The Unnamable, Lessness, Worstward Ho, Texts for Nothing, Enough, First Love and The End and the plays Waiting For Godot, Rockaby and A Piece of Monologue. In 2006 the company produced new versions of Beckett’s 7 radio plays which were broadcast by RTE during The Beckett Centenary Festival. Additional work includes Swallow written and performed by Michael Harding and The Good Thief by Conor McPherson.
8 of the last 12 productions have toured Ireland and recent years have seen international tours to Bulgaria, China, France, Germany, Greece, Holland, Israel, Poland, Romania, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey, UK and the USA. They have presented Beckett on some of the world’s great stages. Among them The National Theatres of Great Britain, Bulgaria, Romania and Israel, as well as Steppenwolf (Chicago), Stadschowburg (Rotterdam), The National Concert Hall (Dublin), Schiffbau (Zurich), The English Theatre (Berlin), Riverside Studios (London) and Shanghai Dramatic Arts Centre. In June 2008 this production of First Love will perform at The Long Wharf Theater as part of The New Haven Festival of Art & New Ideas and is then due to tour to South Africa.
The company are currently preparing a production of Moby Dick from the great American novel by Herman Melville. Performed by Conor Lovett and directed by Judy Hegarty Lovett the production will premiere in April 2009 in Youghal, Co. Cork, Ireland, which served as the location for Nantucket Island in John Huston’s film Moby Dick that starred Gregory Peck.
The company has released audio CD versions of Molloy and First Love by Samuel Beckett. Further info garestlazare@mac.com
The current touring Repertory (available in late 2009) includes The End, First Love, Texts For Nothing, Molloy, Malone Dies and The Unnamable by Samuel Beckett, The Good Thief by Conor McPherson and Moby Dick by Herman Melville all performed by Conor Lovett and directed by Judy Hegarty Lovett.
Production History.
The End by Samuel Beckett, 2008, Parade Tower, Kilkenny Arts Festival.
First Love by Samuel Beckett 2008, Siamsa Tire, Tralee.
The Good Thief by Conor McPherson, 2006, Rubicon Theatre, Ventura, CA, USA.
Worstward Ho by Samuel Beckett, 2005, Cork Public Museum, Cork.
Texts For Nothing by Samuel Beckett, 2005 Masonic Lodge, Cork.
A Piece of Monologue by Samuel Beckett, 2004, Rubicon Theatre, Ventura, CA, USA.
Enough by Samuel Beckett, 2004, Casino Marino, Dublin.
Swallow by Michael Harding, 2003, Dublin City Gallery – Hugh Lane, Dublin.
Behold Me Large by Der Lovett, 2002, Dublin Fringe Festival.
Lessness by Samuel Beckett, 2002, Kilkenny Arts Festival.
The Beckett Trilogy – Molloy, Malone Dies & The Unnamable by Samuel Beckett, 2001 Kilkenny Arts Festival.
Malone Dies by Samuel Beckett, 2000, Kilkenny Arts Festival.
Molloy by Samuel Beckett, 1996, Battersea Arts Centre (BAC), London.
The Dumb Waiter by Harold Pinter, 1995, Barons Court Theatre, London.
Rockaby by Samuel Beckett, 1994, Institut Oceanographique, Paris.
Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett, 1992, Theatre Marie Stuart, Paris.
All productions directed by Judy Hegarty Lovett except A Piece of Monologue (directed by Walter Asmus).
Judy Hegarty Lovett
Judy has a Fine Art degree in Performance Art/Mixed Media and a post graduate diploma in Dramatherapy. Judy worked as a photographer and set designer with a number of Cork theatre companies before moving to Paris in 1991 where she joined the original Gare St Lazare Players (Chicago) as an assistant to Artistic Director Bob Meyer. In 1996 she directed Conor Lovett in Molloy by Samuel Beckett in London and shortly thereafter, the pair set up Gare St Lazare Players Ireland.
Judy’s Beckett directing credits include Waiting for Godot, Rockaby and prose recitals of Molloy, Malone Dies, The Unnamable, Lessness, Enough, Texts For Nothing, Worstward Ho, First Love and The End. In April 2006 for the Beckett Centenary Festival in Dublin Judy directed new versions of Beckett’s 6 radio plays; All That Fall, Embers, Roughs for Radio I & II, Cascando, Words & Music and his translation of The Old Tune by Robert Pinget, as well as readings of Beckett’s prose and poetry by Tony Award Winner Anna Manahan (Beauty Queen of Leenane) and renowned Irish actors David Kelly and John Kavanagh.
Non-Beckett directing credits include Bouncers by John Godber, The Possibilities by Howard Barker, The Dumb Waiter by Harold Pinter, Swallow by Michael Harding, Tanks A Lot (co-written by Judy and Raymond Keane) and, most recently, The Good Thief by Conor McPherson at Rubicon Theatre, Ventura, California which starred Conor Lovett. At Dublin Theatre Festival 2004 Judy directed a staged reading of The Great Hunger by Tom McIntyre at The Abbey Theatre for its Centenary celebrations. As part of Cork 2005 European Capital of Culture, Judy directed Anseo a mask piece devised and performed by HIV+ non-actors at The Glucksman Gallery, Cork.
Conor Lovett
Conor trained at Ecole Jacques Lecoq in Paris. His work with Gare St Lazare Players Ireland on Samuel Beckett has earned him a reputation as one of the world’s great Beckett actors. In all he has performed 17 Beckett roles in 23 different Beckett productions internationally and has performed Beckett in over 17 countries worldwide. In the USA Conor has played at The Fisher Center for the Performing Arts (Bard College), Steppenwolf (Chicago), The Irish Arts Centre (New York), UCLA Live (Los Angeles) and at Rubicon Theatre, Ventura.
He played the role of Lucky in the 2003 revivals of The Gate Theatre’s production of Waiting For Godot directed by Walter Asmus and played in What Where and Acts Without Words 1 & 2 at The Barbican in London during The Gate’s London Beckett Festival in 1999. He has performed with Gare St Lazare Players since 1992 under the direction of both Bob Meyer and Judy Hegarty Lovett and in 2004 was again directed by Walter Asmus in Beckett’s A Piece of Monologue in a Gare St Lazare/Rubicon co-production.
Non-Beckett theatre roles include Ferdinand in The Duchess of Malfi, Joey in The Homecoming, Army in Requiem for a Heavyweight, Les in Bouncers, The Torturer in The Possibilities, Gus in The Dumb Waiter, the title role in Orpheus, Ed in Entertaining Mr. Sloane and The Narrator in Fabulous Beast’s The Bull. In 2007 he played David in Leaves by Lucy Caldwell, a co-production with Druid (Galway)/Royal Court Theatre (London) which was directed by Tony Award with Garry Hynes (Cripple of Inishmaan, Leenane Trilogy). In 2007 he worked with Peter Brook on a workshop towards his forthcoming creation 11 or 12.
For the screen Conor co-produced and starred in Shut Eye directed by Jon Tompkins. Other screen appearances include Father Ted, Intermission, Moll Flanders, L’Entente Cordiale, The Kings of Cork City, Small Engine Repair and Fallout.