©Words Gia Marie Barbera
In the one hour sky arts documentary Not I was performed by the beautiful, critically acclaimed actress Lisa Dwan. The documentary introduced viewers to the history of Beckett’s short one-woman piece and gave the audience a look at the importance of his work and the recitals of it. This is only the third time in 40 years that official permission has been granted for a performance of Not I to be filmed for UK broadcast.

Samuel Beckett: Not I featured behind-the-scenes footage of Lisa preparing for her sold-out run at The Royal Court Theatre, London in May earlier this year. Lisa’s performance marked 40 years since The Royal Court Theatre first held the UK Premiere of the monologue, and she received rave reviews including five stars from The Guardian which described it as "an extraordinary experience" and "completely immersive".

The Financial Times agreed, describing it as “hypnotic”, and The Daily Telegraph added that “Dwan’s is a dazzling technical performance.”

Beckett left strict instructions for his 'one mouth' play. Don't act and you can never go fast enough.

So how did a girl as beautiful as Lisa become the ultimate motor mouth? Lisa first heard about Not I in her teens, from the great Beckett actor Stephen Brennan. He told her about this short, intense play, where an actor is suspended in utter darkness except for her disembodied mouth spewing a torrent, a stream of consciousness. The mouth appears to float about the stage. From that moment she was transfixed by the image he painted.

In 1972, shortly after Beckett wrote Not I, the American actor Jessica Tandy played the role. Backstage, he told her she had destroyed his play. At 22 minutes, she had delivered it far too slowly. He then wrote to its director Alan Schnieder to say he would direct Billie Whitelaw in London himself, "to find out if this is theatre or not".

In 2005, Lisa was sent the script by the director Natalie Abrahami. In between the sheer poetry and the fractured narrative, Lisa saw a transcript of how the mind works – not a linear stream of thought, but layers of interjections, interruptions, insurrections. In the scattering of Christian pieties and Irish colloquialisms, She also heard the sound of home.

Lisa has never seen any version of the piece performed in the theatre, but she has watched the film version of Billie's, directed by Beckett in 1977 (the year Lisa was born).

Lisa practices the piece at least three times a day, fastening herself into her makeshift harness between the bannisters. She records each performance, then carefully plays it over with the text. If she goes wrong even halfway through, back she goes.

There is not a cell of her body that isn't called to arms while performing, but most challenging of all is to silence one's own internal Not I. There's no room for reckless thoughts. They disturb the concentration. The curtain opens to let in the laser of light that fires her mouth and then to go like the clappers.

Check Lisa out Here


Click here to get tickets for Lisa's play http://www.royalcourttheatre.com/whats-on/beckett-trilogy