Beckett as director

Summary

Samuel Beckett was closely involved with the staging of his plays from the very outset of his career as a dramatist. He attended almost all of the rehearsals of the first (and original) French production of En attendant Godot (Waiting for Godot) in the latter months of 1952, when he acted discreetly as an advisor to its director, Roger Blin. He also helped Blin, with much greater self-assurance this time around, to direct the world première of Fin de partie (Endgame) in 1957. Yet it was to be almost ten years more before he began to direct his own productions. Throughout this period, however, he helped and advised several other experienced English and French directors – George Devine, Donald McWhinnie, Anthony Page and Jean-Marie Serreau – with productions of Endgame, Krapp's Last Tape, Happy Days, and Play, as well as assisting with a number of revivals of Godot. In that time, he learned all that he possibly could about staging and lighting from these directors, who became personal friends. Occasionally, he was invited to come in to bale out a production that had run into choppy waters. Then, from the mid-1960s on, he directed almost all of his own stage and television plays at least once, until his career as a director came to an end at the ripe old age of 80 with a production of Was Wo (What Where) for German television.

Why did he choose to direct his own plays?