Samuel Beckett - Not I
Posted by Dr Grey in Satellite

Directed by Anthony Page and Samuel Beckett

Theatre play, written 1972 in English
First published: London 1973; Paris 1975
First production: Lincoln Center, New York, 1972, directed by Alan Schneider
Performed at the Royal Court Theatre on 16th January, 1973
Produced for the BBC in 1977 by Tristram Powell
Cast: Billie Whitelaw (mouth)

Download (.torrent)
Format: avi (divx) | Size: 150mb
Runtime: 13 mins
Source: vhsrip (thanks to Dahlmann)

Not I, written in English in 1972, features an actress seated on stage with just her mouth spot-lit. The mouth then delivers a long stream of consciousness. Evasion is the principle theme, as is highlighted by Beckett’s note to the text in which the mouth’s chief endeavour throughout the play is a ‘vehement refusal to relinquish the third person’. The mouth undergoes a desperate struggle to avoid saying ‘I’, marked by four moments of crisis in which her monologue becomes a question and answer with an inner voice not heard by the audience.

‘… out … into this world … this world … tiny little thing … before its time …’
– Not I