Theatre: Watt

The Gate Theatre Dublin

for the Perth Festival

From the novel by Samuel Beckett

Selected and performed by Barry McGovern

Directed by Tom Creed

Heath Ledger Theatre

Until February 17

When the doors closed at the Heath Ledger Theatre, something happened.

The audience reduced their conversations to a whisper, in anticipation of the arrival of the actor on stage. When, however, some time had passed and the play did not begin, and as if on cue, the whisperers resumed talking at their previous volume. This sudden increase in sound suggested that an incident of some kind had occurred, impelling people to look for it. Others, seeing the direction in which many of their fellows were looking, began looking in that direction as well. People, unable to see for themselves what had occurred (because nothing had), began asking each other what was going on.

It was an auspicious beginning for a night in the company of a writer with an unsurpassed ability to describe what happens when nothing does, and an actor, in Barry McGovern, with the skill and focus to bring it to the stage.

Link here to my complete review in The West Australian