By Mary Ann Bourbeau
RED BANK – Tony Award-winning actor, director, writer and master clown Bill Irwin will make his Two River Theater debut, presenting his one-man show, “On Beckett,” Dec. 7-10.
Irwin has been captivated by the writings of Irish novelist Samuel Beckett for many years, having performed countless times Beckett’s most famous play, “Waiting for Godot.”
Irwin conceived his 90-minute show by exploring a performer’s relationship to Beckett, mining the physical and verbal skills that Irwin himself acquired through his experience as a master clown.
“It is beyond thrilling to welcome Bill Irwin to Two River Theater,” said Justin Waldman, artistic director. “Mr. Irwin is one of the titans of the stage, and to witness him dance with the beautiful words of Samuel Beckett is the stuff dreams are made of.”
After earning a theater degree from Oberlin College, Irwin enrolled in the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Clown College and later was an original member of the Pickle Family Circus.
“I had a lot of student debt, but fortunately my parents were the greatest,” said Irwin. “At clown college, we worked on trips, falls and physical acrobatics, along with makeup and costumes. I wanted to know from the inside out how physical comedy works. In the evenings, we would watch films by Buster Keaton, Charlie Chaplin and W.C. Fields.”
One of the most important skills he learned in clown college was the relationship between a man and his hat.
“Doing things with your hat is a basic part of a clown’s set of skills,” he said. “Beckett loves to play with the connection between the head, the skull and the hat. The hats they wear are so important to the drama in ‘Waiting for Godot.’ ”
Irwin’s approach to both the comic and tragic sides of Beckett’s work allows audiences to experience the language in compelling new ways.
“It’s a personal evening, an invitation to look at what’s driven me this past decade, both this great writer’s language and looking for where his writing meets up with the great clown traditions – preoccupations of mine – and I want to share them,” said Irwin. “Mr. Beckett’s language is beautiful – sometimes harsh, sometimes confounding – but it’s simple, direct language, with a character energy that calls an actor. I want to share it with Two River audiences – both revel in it and shake my head at it – with them.”
Irwin worked on developing the show for years in order to perfect the prose and memorize the text. “On Beckett” premiered at the Irish Repertory Theater in New York City in 2018. Irwin says that whether the audience is schooled in Beckett or not, “On Beckett” is a great entry to the words of the Irish playwright – who was awarded the 1969 Nobel Prize in Literature – because it incorporates passages from his various works.
“Beckett’s language, which is often mysterious, meets up with clowning,” said Irwin. “He was a great Vaudevillian physical comic. My mission is to bring that physical comedy to contemporary theater.”
Irwin has had plenty of experience bringing his clown skills to the public, perhaps most notably as Mr. Noodle in the Elmo’s World segments on “Sesame Street.” His Broadway credits include “The Iceman Cometh,” “Waiting for Godot,” “Bye Bye Birdie,” “Fool Moon,” “Pass Over,” “The Goat or Who is Sylvia?” and “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf,” for which he received the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play. Irwin’s film credits include “Rachel Getting Married,” “The Grinch Who Stole Christmas,” “Eight Men Out” and “Interstellar;” television roles include “Legion,” “The Gilded Age,” “CSI” and “Law and Order: SVU.” He is the recipient of MacArthur, Guggenheim, Fulbright and National Endowment for the Arts fellowships.
“I’m a very lucky actor,” said Irwin. “I’ve had a long life in theater, which is kind of what Samuel Beckett is about. His writing is so interesting, infectious, precise and indefinable. People who say ‘you couldn’t get me into one of those shows’ come out saying ‘When’s the next one?’”
“On Beckett” runs for six performances from Dec. 7-10 at the Two River Theater, 21 Bridge Ave. in Red Bank. Tickets are $45-90 and can be purchased by calling 732-345-1400 or visiting tworivertheater.org.
This article originally appeared in the November 23 – 29, 2023 print edition of The Two River Times.
