Samuel Beckett Letter
Fri, 25 April 2025
A few months ago Dublin Theatre Festival acquired a letter that Samuel Beckett sent to his friend and collaborator Deryk Mendel. The letter refers to Beckett’s intent to withdraw his one-act mime Act without Words I from the festival in 1958. You might have spotted a brilliant article by Deirdre Falvey in The Irish Times last weekend which delves into church involvement in the programming of the festival in the late 1950’s.
The letter was kindly acquired and donated to the festival by Méav Ní Mhaolchatha and Tom Clinch and earlier this month, the festival donated the letter to Trinity College Dublin, which holds the world’s largest collection of Beckett correspondence.
Dublin Theatre Festival Artistic Director & CEO , Róise Goan said:
“With great thanks to Gavin Kostick for bringing this letter to our attention, it is intriguing to see the ethical challenges artists like Beckett were facing in 1958 and how they speak to the contemporary moment. In an increasingly polarised society, the festival takes pride and comfort in Beckett’s stand against a culture of censorship that was prevalent in Dublin at the time due to the overbearing influence of the conservative Catholic church. Whatever the systems of power at play are, we need remain true to our values and support freedom of artistic expression amongst our talented artists both at home in Ireland and internationally.
We are very grateful to Tom Clinch and Méav Ní Mhaolchatha for facilitating the donation on behalf of the festival. By accepting this donation, The Eavan Boland library will ensure that the letter is accessible to theatre scholars long into the future. It is a great privilege for the festival to make an addition to Trinity College’s extensive Beckett collection.”
Librarian and College Archivist, Helen Shenton said:
“This Beckett letter captures an important period in Irish theatre history and the manner in which it has arrived to the Library as a gift by the Dublin Theatre Festival is particularly special. It is also fitting that we received this donation in the Eavan Boland Library. In 1959, when the Library embarked on a fundraising campaign to build what is now the Eavan Boland Library, Beckett as an alumnus and great friend of Trinity’s granted a year’s worth of royalties from the Broadway production of Krapp’s Last Tape to the building fund.
The Dublin Theatre Festival’s donated letter now joins the Library’s extensive Beckett collection of correspondence which can be viewed and studied by students and researchers of Beckett and theatre in the Library he so generously supported.”
L-R Úna Carmody (Chairperson, Dublin Theatre Festival), Dr Linda Doyle (Provost and President of Trinity College Dublin), Méav Ní Mhaolchatha, Helen Shenton (Librarian and College Archivist, Library of Trinity College Dublin), Róise Goan (Artistic Director & CEO Dublin Theatre Festival), Tom Clinch (Board Member, Dublin Theatre Festival)
