Anybody braving sweltering temperatures to go to London’s Hampstead Heath earlier this week might nicely have noticed a gaggle of notable people gathered round a putting tree sculpture, hanging on the phrases of Samuel Beckett. The group, led by a stellar bagpipe participant, have been celebrating the eightieth birthday of artist Sean Scully.
Actors Adrian Dunbar (Line of Responsibility) and Russell Tovey (The Historical past Boys) learn excerpts from Beckett’s landmark 1953 play Ready for Godot as a part of the birthday revelries. Dunbar led the best way, explaining the hyperlinks between Beckett’s textual content and the sculptor Alberto Giacometti, who created a plaster tree for a 1961 revival manufacturing of Godot on the Paris Odeon—although the spindly prop was reportedly destroyed in 1968 when college students occupied the constructing.
This newest incarnation of Godot’s Tree was made not too long ago by Scully as a set prop for Dunbar, a very long time buddy. The work was put in quickly on the Heath on the legendary website of Boudicca’s grave.“We’re killing two birds with one stone,” mentioned Dunbar. “We want Sean blissful birthday and christen [his] tree.”
Dunbar and Tovey exquisitely recited the roles of Vladimir and Estragon in opposition to the backdrop of branches and Scully’s majestic piece. “Adrian and I got here up right here to observe on the weekend,” Tovey says, including that he has taken a “Pinter-esque” strategy to the textual content (in different phrases, add pauses). The birthday celebrations rolled on with a dinner for Scully held at his London gallery, Thaddaeus Ropac.
