American Theatre (January 2000)

Rhino Spotlight: Not I Again

Despite "an infamous reception and vicious legal proceedings" following the show's premiere at Chicago's recent Rhino Festival, Neo-Futurist artistic director Greg Allen and Theater Oobleck regulars Ben Schneider and Danny Thompson decided to restage The Complete Lost Works of Samuel Beckett as Found in an Envelope (partially burned) in a Dustbin in Paris Labeled "Never to be performed. Never. Ever. EVER! Or I'll Sue! I'LL SUE FROM THE GRAVE!!! last month. It was presented by Theater Oobleck at Chicago's Lunar Cabaret.

The show is comprised of seven "recently unearthed" scripts ostensibly authored by Beckett, and the titles are enough to make any Beckettian scholar drool: They includeTable Talk; Not Me; Come see, Come Saw; fragment (oddly found on a balled up piece of paper seemingly written through dictation); and Foot Falls Flatly.

"We were in Paris at some time or other," Allen hazily recounts, "looking through various dumpsters to see what we would find. And we happened upon this envelope." The short plays they discovered were certainly (as the Neo-Futurist puts it) "not his best. Still, we thought he was an idiot for depriving the world of these works." They include what Allen calls "the earliest piece of Beckett's dramatic writing" - a short puppet play written by the seven-year old Sam entitled Happy Happy Bunny Visits Sad Sad Owl. "It's a lovely piece," says Allen.

The trio's discovery did not go unnoticed by the playwright's estate. "We actually read the legal correspondence during the show," says Allen. "The first says that the estate is very interested and that there may be money in it for us-especially considering the recent discovery of one of Mr. Beckett's pub tabs with the words 'Never again!'" (According to Allen, that find instigated the publication of the upcoming Faber & Faber book, Never Again! The Complete Pub Writings of Samuel Beckett.") The messages continue through the show until it becomes clear that the letters are actually coming from the deceased playwright himself. A final missive - addressed "Dear Assholes" - berates the trio for performing the works without his permission, and ends with a piece of classic Beckettian prose: "But who am I to say you can't go on?"

In deference to the 10th anniversary of Beckett's death - Dec. 22, 1989 - this production will be the last [performance of these plays by] the trio. When asked if there isn't the slightest possibility that the guys may revisit these works, Allen is adamant. "Never!" he shouts. "Never again!" Meanwhile, Allen hopes that he will be discovering the lost works of other noted playwrights. "We're hoping to do The Complete Lost Works of Wendy Wasserstein next year," he says.

--Stephen Nunns

Oobleck's note: We lied. Performances are disgracefully continued at the FringeNYC 2000, August 17 - 24. Shame!