Samuel Beckett and Harold Pinter were long-time friends and correspondents who shared an interest in, among other subjects, the quintessentially English game of cricket. Although both achieved the honour of being awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature, Pinter envied the fact that Beckett had been listed in Wisden Cricketer’s Almanck by dint of his appearance for the Trinity College Dublin first eleven, thereby ensuring his place forever as a participant in a ‘first-class’ match (this matters to those who are interested in that sort of thing).
A new play Stumped by Shomit Dutton, and presented by Original Theatre Online, will be broadcast live from Lord’s Cricket Ground (the spiritual home of the game) on 10 September 2022. Directed by Guy Unsworth and featuring Stephen Tompkinson as Beckett and Andrew Lancel as Pinter, the performance will be followed by a discussion with theatre critic Michael Billington, former England cricket captain Mike Brearley and novelist and cricket journalist Emma John.
The production can be viewed live on the night or on demand from 27 September.
Members of the Samuel Beckett Society are being offered a discount on tickets by using the code BECKETT5 when booking here.
The Samuel Beckett Society 