Samuel Beckett Event – Saturday 5th March 2016

The 1969 Nobel Literature Prize winner, Samuel Beckett, had a strong connection to Tullow Church. He was born in 1906 and lived with his older brother and parents at Cooldrinagh, Kerrymount Avenue, Foxrock. His mother was a faithful member of our Parish Church and the young Samuel used to regularly attend with her Sunday by Sunday. These, and other local experiences, were ultimately woven into many of his later works. Beckett’s early education was at Earlsfort House School near Harcourt Street in the city centre and his secondary education was in Portora Royal School in Enniskillen. He studied French, Italian and English in Trinity college, graduating with a B.A. following a short period of teaching in Belfast, he moved to Paris to take up the post of lecteur d’anglais in the Ecole Normale Superieure in Paris. It was whilst there, he was introduced to renowned Irish author James Joyce.

Plans are now well advanced in celebrating this link with Tullow Church and it is proposed to hold a “Beckett Evening” on Saturday 5^th March 2016. This event will employ the talents of well-known professional actors as they present ‘tasters’ of Beckett’s novellas and plays and a narrator will demonstrate the links between the Church and locality with the works themselves. As this event will undoubtedly attract attention from far afield, the promotion and sale of tickets will be handled by an agency outside the parish. However, tickets (which are due to go on sale in January) may be booked through a link on the Parish Website from January: www.tullowdublin.org

 Many thanks to Jane Bowes for developing and arranging this event.