Still: Late Works by Samuel Beckett (Victorian Theatre Company) - 50 minutes

Nobel Prize winning Irish writer Samuel Beckett is noted for reflecting on death, not with a philosophical bent, rather with pragmatism.

It is his observations of the everyday or the mundane that director Richard Murphet and performer Robert Meldrum bring to life.

They do so after a sell-out Australian premiere season of Beckett’s Worstward Ho.

What is so impressive is the timbre, the tone, the expression and the silences that Meldrum plays with. It is his attention to detail.

Photos by Darren Gill

He invests authority into the six short pieces that constitute the program, some readily differentiated and others not. The link in several is the use of the word “still”.

Beckett brings his own, often clipped lexicon to descriptions of existence in its final throes. Nothing fancy to see here. No grand reckoning. No false sentimentality. Just what is and will soon not be.

Beginning with a drone, the first piece starts in darkness. Sound design has a significant part to play, as does the splendid and diverse use of spot lighting.

An almighty clattering brings to the fore scene #2. There are white chalk marks on the jet-black walls, constituting three windows, a door and a ladder.

The only props are a small wooden table, a wicker chair and cushion, and a hat/coat stand.

The set design consultant is Jenny Kemp, while the set artwork is by Gary Willis.

The protagonist, dressed in long coat, grey trousers and light-coloured shirt, looks out the windows and tells us what he can see.

Then he listens for sound. He informs us there was no such thing as sound when his own light went out, although he was initially buoyed by a light from above.

Next, Meldrum draws the outline of a man in chalk on the floor. It is reminiscent of a crime scene.

But it is not that, merely the final resting place for someone used to treading the same path daily.

This is a vignette that talks of the final walk, for which a change of clothing is in order.

The long coat gives way to what is known as a great coat – brown to match a hat, beneath which is an unkempt light-coloured wig.

The man sets out taking many more than his usual steps. This time, he won’t be making it back home.

But Beckett doesn’t gild the lily – no one had missed him (because) no-one was looking for him. He was simply found by chance.

Woven into the storylines is an interchange between actor Meldrum and voice-over from director Murphet by way of narration/conversation.

And so it is that I interpret these extraordinarily potent reflections on the finite nature of our time on Earth as the antithesis of religious doctrine.

You live and you die. Then, there is no more.

Beckett’s writing makes the ordinary noteworthy. Meldrum and Murphet’s commitment to their craft makes it sing.

Still: Late Works by Samuel Beckett is playing at Theatre Works’ Explosives Factory until 26^th July, 2025.