First target reached! Stretch target: £2,500
Huge and heartfelt thanks from both of us to all you generous and supportive people....
The End Is In The Beginning - N.Ireland Tour
Crediton, Devon, United Kingdom
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Aim
Bringing Beckett back to Northern Ireland. Help us bring The End Is In The Beginning to audiences this September.
"The end is in the beginning… and yet you go on"
That's a line from Samuel Beckett's Endgame, and it could just as easily be the story of this show, and of what we're asking you to help us do now.
The End Is In The Beginning is our compilation weaving together sixteen extracts from the plays, prose and poems of Nobel Prize-winning Irish author Samuel Beckett. We built it especially for audiences who have little or no experience of Beckett's work, because we believe, and this is the whole point of the show, that Beckett is for everyone.
“A ‘best of Samuel Beckett’ brought to life. Absurd. Poetic. Funny. Quietly devastating. Two astonishing performers. Sixteen works. One unforgettable journey.”
Performed by Philip Robinson (Living Room Theatre) and Sarah White (Four of Swords), and directed by Nikki Sved (Theatre Alibi), it's an intimate two-hander: a mystery phone call, impossible-to-remove boots, surreal radio broadcasts, a glass of Jameson's, classic clowning, beguiling stillness, some audience up on stage, and Godot's arrival (maybe). Hilarious, poignant, and compelling, all at once.
We've already toured it across the South West of England, to audiences aged 16 to 96, who've called it:
"Life-affirming, entertaining, profound, powerful, cathartic, hilarious, discombobulating, beautiful, difficult, stunning, demanding, relevant, mesmerising, one of the best theatrical experiences of my life!"
Now we've been invited to bring it to Northern Ireland!
This September, we've been invited to tour the show across all six counties of Northern Ireland, including running Beckett-themed theatre workshops for young people and giving talks about Beckett and the project.
We can't do it without you:
Why we need your help
We want this to be as accessible as possible. That means:
- Keeping ticket prices affordable by collaborating with local arts, education and community venues across Northern Ireland
- Funding free workshop places and seats for young people
- Getting two actors, a show, and all our kit around six counties, in the back of a car
Hoiking a show like this around Northern Ireland isn't glamorous, but it's how we reach the village halls, libraries, schools and community spaces where audiences might otherwise never encounter Beckett at all, and find that his themes of struggle, memory, and trying again resonate powerfully in their own lives, right now.
We're raising £2,000 to make this tour happen, which will go directly towards:
- ⛴️ Ferry crossings
- ⛽ Petrol for touring the six counties
- 🛏️ Accommodation for the company
- 🎭 Paying our actors properly for their work
Every penny helps get Beckett to more people, and helps us pay the people bringing him to life.
Who's behind it:
Philip Robinson has spent 45 years creating performances in non-traditional settings, living rooms, department stores, buses, gardens, haunted houses, and is Artistic Director of Living Room Theatre, which he started 20 years ago. He's toured Beckett's Krapp's Last Tape before, and has taken shows everywhere from Ireland to Iraq, via Kosovo to Kidderminster.
Sarah White is an Exeter-based performer, facilitator and producer, and Co-Artistic Director of Four of Swords, a company specialising in immersive theatre in unusual spaces from caves to quarries to forests and empty office buildings. She's also known for screen roles in the BBC's Beyond Paradise and Cornish horror The Cull.
Nikki Sved (Theatre Alibi) directs. As she puts it: "I've always loved Beckett... it's been a revelation and a joy... in the end, all we had to do was listen hard."
Theatre is for all. So is Beckett.
Try again. Fail again. Fail better.
That's the celebration at the heart of this show, the very human, very Beckett act of trying again, failing again, failing better.
Help us go on. Help us make this new opportunity happen, and bring The End Is In The Beginning to Northern Ireland this September.
Please, if you can, make a pledge.
Thank you.
Grateful thanks to Edward Beckett and The Beckett Estate for giving their support to this project.
There's also a chance to see this in the Exeter area early September:
- The End Is In The Beginning at Exeter Library, 5th September
- Join us for a free lunchtime talk at Exeter Library; Failing Better: Reading and Performing Samuel Beckett, 1pm Friday 4th September. Laura Salisbury (Professor of Modern Literature and leading Beckett scholar) will be in conversation with Philip Robinson (Beckett actor and performer) about the life, work, and enduring influence of Nobel Prize-winning writer and playwright Samuel Beckett. Follow this link to book your FREE space!
Finally, for my info about the project or the tour feel free to drop us a line: [email protected]
Funding method
Keep what you raise – this project will receive all pledges made by 18th August 2026 at 2:35pm