Sir, – In "No's Knife: much ado about nothing? Absolutely not" (June 6th), Fintan O'Toole, referring to Beckett's Texts For Nothing, writes "This is perhaps why the texts, though they have been read from the stage many times, have not been performed before." In fact they have.
In 2005 Gare St Lazare Ireland presented Texts For Nothing at Cork Freemasons' Lodge performed by Conor Lovett and directed by Judy Hegarty Lovett. It was part of Access All Beckett, a programme mounted with Cork 2005 European Capital of Culture and supported by the Arts Council. We subsequently performed Texts For Nothing in Dublin, Brighton, New York, Los Angeles and at six regional venues in Ireland. In the US, Bill Irwin performed Texts For Nothing, directed by Joe Chaikin, at the Public Theater in New York in 1992, and Joe Chaikin himself performed it in 1981.
These were not readings; they were rehearsed “legitimate” performances. – Yours, etc,
CONOR LOVETT,
JUDY HEGARTY LOVETT,
Fountainstown,
Cork.