Gare St Lazare Ireland. Highwater, Coast Rd, Fountainstown, Cork.
www.garestlazareireland.com Tel. + 33 1 34 79 39 89
Company Overview
Brief Biography
"Every word has been carefully chosen and through the magical delivery of Conor Lovett, who puts in possibly the finest performance I have ever seen, the heart of its meaning sets your soul alight even if you do not understand why. There’s nothing flashy here. No giant sets. No fancy lighting. Just a man with a story to share. A man with passion and love. Once you have seen this you will never go back. You will not want anyone but Gare St Lazare to do Beckett again. Absolutely unbelievable." EDINBURGH GUIDE on The Beckett Trilogy, Jan 2011
Gare St Lazare Ireland is an Irish theatre company run by joint artistic directors Judy Hegarty Lovett and Conor Lovett. Over 15 years we have toured work in Ireland and around the world. With over 17 titles by Samuel Beckett in our repertory we have built a reputation as prime exponents of the Nobel prizewinning Irish author’s work. Though associated with Beckett we also work with other texts such as those of Will Eno, Michael Harding and Conor McPherson, and in 2009 we created an adaptation, by Conor Lovett and Judy Hegarty Lovett, of Moby Dick by Herman Melville.
The company is committed to touring, initially in Ireland and then abroad, and in 2012 our 15 venue Irish tour of our The End by Samuel Beckett was the company’s 15th production to tour the country in twelve years. Molloy by Samuel Beckett has toured to over 16 countries worldwide and in 2006 we toured Access All Beckett (from 2 to 6 Beckett titles) to Dublin, Shanghai, Brighton, New York and Los Angeles.
We have forged strong links with festivals and theatres in Ireland and abroad. We have presented 8 times at Kilkenny Arts Festivals and twice at Newhaven Festival of Arts & Ideas, Dublin Theatre Festival and, in the USA, we have had four shows performed at Rubicon Theatre, Ventura, California. At the beginning of 2009 we presented First Love at Under The Radar at The Public Theater, New York and in 2012 we presented Title and Deed by Will Eno in a co- production with Signature Theatre Company in New York. The show ran for six weeks and was listed at no. 4 Best Shows of 2012 by both The New York Times and New Yorker Magazine.
Awards & Nominations.
2014 Irish Times Theatre Awards, Nomination for Best Supporting Actor, Tadgh Murphy in the role of Lucky in Waiting For Godot.
2013 Lucille Lortel Awards, Nomination for Outstanding Solo Performance – Title and Deed by Will Eno.
2009 Irish Times Theatre Awards, Nomination for Best Actor, Conor Lovett in Moby Dick.
2008 Irish Times Theatre Awards, Nomination for Judges Special Prize for First Love and The End by Samuel Beckett.
2007 Santa Barbara Independent Awards, Best Performance for Conor Lovett in The Good Thief by Conor McPherson.
2001 1st Prize, Thespis Festival of Monodrama, Kiel, Germany. Molloy by Samuel Beckett.
2001 Dublin Fringe Festival, Best Female Performance, Olwen Fouere in Lessness by Samuel Beckett.
1997 Edinburgh Festival Fringe, The Stage Best Actor Nomination, Conor Lovett in Molloy by Samuel Beckett. Company FACTS Overview
They have performed on 6 continents. On four occasions in Africa, six in Asia, five in Australia, over 20 in North America, twice in India, once in South America and countless times in Europe.
In all they have performed in 80 cities outside of Ireland and a further 60 within the island.
Run by joint artistic directors Conor Lovett and Judy Hegarty Lovett, this company has displayed vision, skill, innovation, talent, entrepreneurship, persistence and their commitment to maintain the highest artistic standard has been recognised by audiences, press and fellow artists at home and abroad. The company’s output has grown consistently and its work has been so well received in Ireland and internationally that invitations to return have become a regular feature.
In 2010 the company toured six different productions from their repertory and performed in thirty cities in nine countries worldwide.
Also in 2010 in Ireland they premiered their work, The Calmative by Samuel Beckett in Cork and Dublin.
In Ireland they toured in 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2012 to 13, 23 and 29 theatres respectively.
Over the last ten years GSLI have shared festival billing with The Abbey, The Gate, Peter Brook, Robert Lepage and The National Theatre of Great Britain among many, many others.
They have played in the National Theatres of Bulgaria, Great Britain, Israel, Romania and South Africa.
They have received consistently superlative critical acclaim in the USA having been reviewed by The New York Times, by The Los Angeles Times and by each Variety, Christian Science Monitor, Village Voice, The Oregonian and The Philadelphia Inquirer.
Gare St Lazare Ireland has been doing a great amount to increase the Irish cultural footprint globally. The company have consistently demonstrated an ability to get more value for their funding by giving each production a long life and a maximum of exposure. They receive consistently superlative critical acclaim all around the world and are one of few companies to receive a coveted five starreview. Guardian
Their repertory includes nine prose pieces by Samuel Beckett: Molloy, Malone Dies, The Unnamable, Texts For Nothing, Enough, Worstward Ho, First Love, The End and The Calmative.
In 2009 they adapted Moby Dick by Herman Melville as a two hour solo performance for which Conor Lovett was a 2010 Best Actor nominee at The Irish Times Irish Theatre Awards.
All but one of their eighteen productions since 1995 has been directed by Judy Hegarty Lovett. The one was A Piece of Monologue by Samuel Beckett was directed by Walter Asmus.
In 2009 Conor was a Judges Special Prize nominee at The Irish Times Irish Theatre Awards for his performances in Gare St Lazare’s First Love andThe End by Samuel Beckett.
GSLI have received theatre awards in China (2010), USA (2007) and Germany (2001).
At Melbourne International Arts Festival in 2010 The Beckett Trilogy sold out four nights in an 860 seat venue, The Playhouse at Melbourne Arts Centre. The 3 and a half hour performance received standing ovations every night.
The company then toured First Love to three 100-seat theatres in Bendigo, Warrnambool and Warragul in the state of Victoria.
They have performed three times in the National Theatre of Bulgaria in Sofia. The only other Irish company to perform there was Hilton Edwards and Michéal MacLiammoir’s Gate company in 1939.
With RTE Radio 1 they produced and broadcast all seven of Samuel Beckett’s radio plays in 2006 during the Beckett Centenary Festival in Dublin. At the same festival they presented seven Beckett productions in two different venues in Dublin.
Outside of traditional theatres they have presented work in The National Concert Hall, The National Gallery of Ireland, The Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin City Gallery - The Hugh Lane, Cork Public Museum, The Glucksman Gallery at UCC, Kilkenny Courthouse, Rothe House, Kilkenny Castle, Cork Freemasons Lodge, The Crypt of St Mary’s Abbey, Casino Marino and The Other Place Nightclub (Cork). The company has developed relationships with, and made at least one return visit to, over fifty venues worldwide and in Ireland. Among them are Kilkenny Arts Festival, Dublin Fringe Festival, Edinburgh Fringe, New Haven International Festival of Arts & Ideas, Rubicon Theatre (Ventura, California), California International Theatre Festival, Andrews Lane Theatre (Dublin), Battersea Arts Centre (London), Brighton Festival (UK), Tobacco Factory (Bristol, UK), Oxford Playhouse (UK), Theater Basel (CH), The English Theatre (Berlin), Le Centre Culturel Irlandais (Paris), The Irish Arts Centre (NYC).
The company works closely with Culture Ireland who continues to support their international touring with travel related costs.
Gare St Lazare Ireland received an average of €25,000 per year in Arts Council funding between 2004 and 2009. In the same period they produced seven new productions and met the ever increasing demand for touring from their repertory. Compared with any other company in Ireland GSLI has showed a massive return to the taxpayer for their funding. This is evident primarily in the subsequent long life of each new production. The company’s repertory continues to tour long after a show’s initial outing. In Irish theatre this is unfortunately the case with very, very few productions.
Irish theatre and literature is enormously highly regarded worldwide. This is a vital component in the country’s marketing of itself. An Irish company bringing an Irish writer to be performed by an Irish actor rarely fails to generate interest.
Gare St Lazare Ireland have consistently demonstrated an ability to get more value for their funding while giving each production a long life and a maximum of exposure.
In 2011 GSLI premiered Will Eno’s Title and Deed at the Kilkenny Arts Festival, which then went on to play for a five-week run at Signature Centre, New York. The company also toured Ireland in 2012 with Samuel Beckett’s short story The End.
Future Plans.
Artistic - The company will continue to build its repertory and tour from this. Waiting For Godot has demonstrated their ability to deliver a large scale production and tour it successfully. In its 3 city tour in 2013 its 20 performances were seen by over 10,000 people.
Funding is currently being sought to for a New York Beckett Festival in association with Signature Theatre Company. Waiting For Godot will tour in 2015/16.
Here All Night is being developed into an opera for solo soprano and solo actor with full visual design and lighting and is available for touring from Spring 2015.
Funding. Our international touring experiences have often been undertaken with the co-operation of the Department of Foreign Affairs (formerly with Cultural Relations Committee) and more recently with the sustained support of Culture Ireland. We received Annual Funding from The Arts Council from 2007 - 2010 and have also been funded by Cork City Council and Cork County Council. We have also benefitted from individual donations from supporters. We have ongoing campaign to encourage individual and corporate donations and sponsorship.
Audio/Radio We have recorded Molloy and First Love on Audio CD and these are available from the company. In 2006 we co-produced Beckett’s 7 radio plays with national broadcaster RTE Radio 1 and these were broadcast as part of The Beckett Centenary Festival at which we also presented a total of 7 Beckett titles including the drama, A Piece of Monologue directed by Walter Asmus.
Production history since 1997 All productions are directed by Judy Hegarty Lovett except A Piece of Monologue directed by Walter Asmus.
Molloy by Samuel Beckett performed by Conor Lovett (1997)
Malone Dies by Samuel Beckett performed by Conor Lovett (2000)
The Beckett Trilogy (Molloy, Malone Dies and The Unnamable) performed by Conor Lovett (2001)
Lessness by Samuel Beckett performed by Olwen Fouéré (2002)
Behold Me Large written and performed by Der Lovett (2002)
Swallow written & performed by Michael Harding.(2003)
Enough by Samuel Beckett performed by Ally Ni Chiarain (2004)
A Piece of Monologue by Samuel Beckett performed by Conor Lovett (2004)
Worstward Ho by Samuel Beckett performed by Lee DeLong (2005) Texts For Nothing by Samuel Beckett performed by Conor Lovett (2005)
Anseo devised with HIV+ non-actors and Judy Hegarty Lovett (2005)
Seven Radio Plays. All That Fall, Cascando, Embers, The Old Tune, Rough (1 and 2) For Radio and Words and Music. (2006) Casts included Anna Manahan, John Kavanagh, David Kelly, Denis Conway, Olwen Fouéré, Catherine Walsh, Mark O’Regan, Louis Lovett, Ally Ni Chiarain, Michael West, Annie Ryan, Conor Lovett, Louis and Ruby Hegarty Lovett. Original music by Paul Clark.
The Good Thief by Conor McPherson, performed by Conor Lovett. (Premiered at Rubicon Theatre, Ventura, California, Aug 2006).
First Love by Samuel Beckett performed by Conor Lovett (Premiered March 2008).
The End by Samuel Beckett performed by Conor Lovett (Premiered August 2008).
Moby Dick by Herman Melville adapted by Conor Lovett and Judy Hegarty Lovett performed by Conor Lovett. (Premiered April 2009).
The Calmative by Samuel Beckett. Performed by Conor Lovett. (Premiered March 2010).
Title and Deed, by Will Eno. (Premiered August 2011). Performed by Conor Lovett and directed by Judy Hegarty Lovett.
Irish Touring (2002 – 2013).
Waiting For Godot by Samuel Beckett, Dublin Theatre Festival, Belfast Festival, 2013.
The End by Samuel Beckett, toured to thirteen venues in Ireland in March 2012.
Title and Deed by Will Eno, The Kilkenny Arts Festival 2011.
Moby Dick by Herman Melville at Skibereen Arts Festival 2010.
The End and The Calmative by Samuel Beckett (Double Bill) Half Moon Theatre, Cork & Project Arts Centre Dublin, March & April 2010. Moby Dick by Herman Melville (35 dates at 27 venues around Ireland in April & May 2009).
First Love by Samuel Beckett (Project Arts Centre, Dublin Theatre Festival, Oct 08).
The End by Samuel Beckett (Kilkenny Arts Festival 2008).
First Love Irish tour. 28 dates at 21 venues around Ireland including Omagh in Northern Ireland.
The Good Thief by Conor McPherson. Irish tour to 13 venues around Ireland in September 2007.
Molloy, Texts For Nothing and A Piece of Monologue by Samuel Beckett Irish tour to 7 venues, Autumn 2006.
Access All Beckett 5 prose pieces and one drama by Samuel Beckett. Performed at Irish Museum of Modern Art and at chq, Docklands, during Dublin Beckett Centenary Festival, 2006.
Anseo Mask performance devised by Judy Hegarty Lovett and 4 HIV non-actors. Glucksman Gallery, Cork.
Access All Beckett Cork 2005. Worstward Ho, Texts For Nothing & Enough by Samuel Beckett. Performed in Cork Public Museum, The Masonic Lodge & The Other Place.
Enough by Samuel Beckett. Casino Marino, Dublin Fringe Festival 2004.
Swallow by Michael Harding. Irish tour 2004.
Swallow by Michael Harding. Dublin Fringe Festival 2003.
Lessness by Samuel Beckett. Kilkenny Arts Festival 2002.
Behold Me Large by Der Lovett. Dublin Fringe Festival 2002.
The Beckett Trilogy Mermaid Arts Centre, Bray, September 2002.
International touring (1997 - 2012)
1997- Edinburgh Festival, Scotland
1998 - Belfast Festival, Northern Ireland Riverside Studios London, UK CRC funding Steppenwolf Theatre Chicago, USA Theatre les Dechargeurs, Paris, France 1999 - Irish Arts Centre, New York, USA Belfast, Northern Ireland Wales
2000 - Thespis Festival of Monodrama, Kiel, Germany - First Prize Beckett in Berlin, - CRC funding Wales Tour Lleida, Spain
2001 – Berlin, Germany National Theatre of Israel, Tel Aviv Irish Festival, Ludwigshafen, Germany Portland, Oregon, USA Parc de La Villette, Paris, France
2002 - The Beckett Trilogy Tour, Holland Salisbury Festival, UK National Theatre, London, UK Frankfurt Am Oder, Germany
2003 - Centre Culturel Irlandais (CCI), Paris, France
2004 - BeckettFest, Rubicon Theatre, Ventura, USA CCI Paris, France
2005 - CCI Paris, France
2006 - Geneva, Switzerland Shanghai, China – Culture Ireland funding Beckett Centenary Festival, Dublin, Ireland. Zurich, Switzerland Brighton Festival UK Krakow, Poland Ankara, Turkey Athens, Greece Rubicon Theatre, Ventura, California, USA Best Performance Award, Santa Barbara Independent ‘Indy’ Awards Bard College, Annandale, New York, USA UCLA Live, Los Angeles, California, USA
2007 - Manhattan, New York, USA Sibia Festival & National Theatre, Bucharest, Romania – Culture Ireland funding National Theatre of Bulgaria – Culture Ireland funding Geneva, Switzerland
2008 - Athens, Greece – CI funding Bucharest, Romania – CI funding Geneva, Switzerland Ankara, Istanbul & Izmir, Turkey - CI funding Sofia, Bulgaria - CI funding Irish Theatre Diaspora Conferenc, Lille, France Rubicon Theatre, Ventura, California, USA Paris, Centre Culturel Irlandais, France
2009 - The Public Theater, Under The Radar Festival, New York, USA Long Wharf Theater, Intn’l Festival of Arts & Ideas. New Haven, Connecticut, USA Baxter Theatre, Cape Town & National Arts Festival, Grahamstown, South Africa Rubicon Theatre, Ventura & California International Theater Festival, Calabasas, USA Beckett Festival Buenos Aires, Argentina Sofia, Bulgaria
2010-
Shetler Studios, New York, USA Geneva Literary Aids Society, Geneva, Switzerland Theater Basel, Switzerland Half Moon Theatre, Cork, Ireland Project Arts Centre, Dublin, Ireland Oxford Playhouse, UK Garaj Theatre, Istanbul & METU, Ankara, Turkey International Festival of Arts & Ideas, Newhaven, USA National Arts Festival, Grahamstown, South Africa State Theatre, Pretoria, South Africa South Bank Centre, London, UK California International Theatre Festival, Calabasas, California, USA Edinburgh Fringe Festival, UK Live Arts Festival Philadelphia, USA Time Based Arts Festival, USA Brisbane Festival, Australia Tobacco Factory, Bristol, UK Brighton Pavilion, Brighton, UK Playhouse Theatre, Melbourne International Arts Festival, Australia Bendigo, Warragul & Warrnambool, Victoria, Australia FirstWorks Festival, Providence, RI, USA Emelin Theatre,Mamaroneck, NY, USA Connecticut College, New London, CT, USA MCLA, North Adams, MA, USA Shanghai Dramatic Arts Centre, China Theater Basel, Switzerland (2nd visit)
2011 - Shetler Studios, New York, USA. Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, UK Cork, Ireland National Centre for the Performing Arts, Mumbai, India Habitat World, New Delhi, India Herald Theatre, Auckland Arts Festival, New Zealand Oxford Playhouse, Oxford, UK Brighton Pavilion, Brighton, UK York University, York, UK Samuel Beckett Theatre, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland 11 venues in the USA. METU, Ankara, Turkey Liverpool Irish Festival, UK
2012 Irish Tour of The End. Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh. Tobacco Factory, Bristol,
2013 Cherbourg, Paris & Strasbourg, France. Geneva, Switzerland. Berlin, Germany. Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, Scotland. World Premiere of Here All Night, Brighton, UK. Waiting For Godot, Dublin, Belfast & Boston.