Tonight is the opening night of Pan Pan’s production of Embers by Samuel Beckett in the Beckett theatre in Trinity College. Tickets are available here.

Embers is a radio play written in 1957 by Beckett, but will be performed live on this occasion, with the two main actors hidden from view inside the Skull in the centre of the stage. This follows on from Pan Pan’s recent production of ‘All that Fall’. another of Beckett’s radio plays. If it is anything like Pan Pan’s previous creations, it is not to be missed.

The story of the set is fascinating, with a giant skull in the centre of the stage, containing the two actors, along with 600 speakers hanging from the roof and over 2 tonnes of stone in the foreground. Andrew Clancy is the sculptor behind the Skull, with each piece being painstakingly cut by hand to form the giant dome. Watch the time lapse video below to see how it all came together.

There are also a number of other time lapse videos and interviews with Andrew Clancy and director Gavin Quinn here.

by

Samuel Beckett

Gavin Quinn Director

Andrew Clancy Sculptor

Aedin Cosgrove Lighting designer

Jimmy Eadie Sound designer

Photographs by Ros Kavanagh