An unnamed narrator travels through a nightmarish quagmire that extends as far as the eye can see in all directions. He carries a sack on his shoulder and struggles to journey through the mud in search of a fellow traveler named Pim. When he does finally meet Pim, the narrator assumes the name Bom. For the narrator, violence seems to be the only means of understanding this strange world and his own predicament. Why must he carry this sack of seemingly worthless objects across a world filled almost entirely with mud? Who is Pim and can he be trusted?

Samiel Beckett’s original novel, which was published in French in 1961, is a strikingly allegorical work that explores human suffering. This show is the second installment of the original 3-part story. Over the last 20 years, Judy Hegarty Lovett and Conor Lovett have been immensely successful in bringing Beckett’s classics to the stage. How It Is (Part Two) features the Irish Gamelan Orchestra led by accomplished composer Mel Mercier. The production also includes solo performances by violinist Claudia Schwab and saxophonist Nick Roth.

Good For

Fans of Orchestral Music | Fans of Samuel Beckett | Lovers of Existential Themes

Reviews

“The rhythmic achievement of verbal memory is accentuated by the Gamelan’s unison of drone and discordance while its squatting instrumentalists sway like galley slaves driving a vessel on to ground” – The Irish Times