Not I

Summary

BBC production of Beckett’s short dramatic monologue Not I, presented as the third in a sequence of three short plays under the title Shades. (The other two plays, namely Ghost Trio and ...but the clouds... were written for television).

Theatre play

Not I by Samuel Beckett [more information]

Play synopsis

A short dramatic monologue. ‘Not I takes place in a pitch-black space illuminated only by a single beam of light. This spotlight fixes on an actress’s mouth about eight feet above the stage, everything else being blacked out and, in early performances, illuminates the shadowy figure of the Auditor who makes four increasingly ineffectual movements "of helpless compassion" during brief breaks in the monologue where Mouth appears to be listening to some inner voice unheard by the audience. The mouth utters jumbled sentences at a ferocious pace, which obliquely tell the story of a woman of about seventy who was abandoned by her parents after a premature birth and has lived a loveless, mechanical existence, and who appears to have suffered an unspecified traumatic experience.' Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Not_I.

Production history

Premiered at the Samuel Beckett Festival by the Repertory Theater of Lincoln Center, New York, 22 November 1972. Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Not_I.

Date of transmission

Sunday 17 April 1977

Time

9.00-10.00pm

Channel

BBC2

Production company

BBC

Credits

Director

Anthony Page

Producer

Tristram Powell

Paul Hughes-Smith (credited as Production Team)

Stephany Marks (credited as Production Team)

Playwright

Samuel Beckett

Designer

Jocelyn Herbert (1917-2003)

Make-up

Maggie Weston

Sound

Simon Wilson

Dubbing Mixer

Ron Edmonds

Film Editor

John Needham

Introduced by

Martin Esslin

Executive Producer

Bill Morton

Cast

Billie Whitelaw

Additional details

Notes

The 15-minute play was given at some point towards the end of the hour-long time slot for Shades.

Audiovisual sources

Title

Not I (BBC, 1977)

Archive

BBC Information and Archives [more information]

Address

White City
London
UK

Telephone

+44 (0)20 8008 2288

Website

http://www.bbc.co.uk/informationandarchives/

Access

BBC Information and Archives is not open to the public.

Print sources

Title

Radio Times, 14 April 1977 (Magazine)

Linking notes

articles, pp. 3 and 13; listing, p. 23