World Premiere of NO'S KNIFE Set at The Old Vic

'Where would I go, if I could go, who would I be, if I could be, what would I say, if I had a voice, who says this, saying it's me?'

The Old Vic is pleased to present the world premiere of No's Knife. Conceived and performed by Lisa Dwan and co-directed with The Old Vic's Season 2 Baylis Director Joe Murphy, No's Knife opens on 3 October with previews from 29 September 2016.

A lone figure. A voice searching in the dark for who it is and why it speaks. Lisa Dwan, the foremost interpreter of Samuel Beckett, offers a searing personal and political vision of his most original work: Texts for

Nothing.

Filled with piercing insight, rage, wit and humour, No's Knife is an extraordinary journey into the heart of Beckett, unlocking his contemporary relevance to gender, identity and the human condition. It is an invitation to look at ourselves, and to ask who, or whom, am I?

Lisa Dwan is an Irish performer and director. Having originally trained in the UK as a ballet dancer, including dancing with Rudolf Nureyev in Coppelia in Dublin, she began acting professionally in her teens. She has worked extensively in theatre, film, and television, both internationally and in her native Ireland. Most recently Lisa performed opposite Matthew Broderick in Conor McPherson's Shining City in New York and a workshop performance of Samuel Beckett's Text for Nothing at the Lincoln Centre's White Light festival. She has also toured all over the world to great audience and critical acclaim in her 'Beckett Trilogy' of Not I / Footfalls / Rockaby. She was coached by Billie Whitelaw and has collaborated with Walter Asmus since 2012. Originating at The Royal Court Theatre in London, and immediately transferring to the West End the Beckett Trilogy's sold out in all its engagements including the Barbican Centre, Southbank Centre, Brooklyn Academy Of Music, NYC Skirball Centre, Perth Festival, Paris, Belfast, Hong Kong, Boston, Galway, Belfast, Los Angeles, Toronto and a UK tour. Film credits include An Afterthought directed by Matteo Bernardini, Walt Disney's' Oliver Twist, John Boorman's Tailor of Panama, and Bhopal: A Prayer for Rain.

TV credits include Rock Rival's (ITV) Big Bow Wow (RTE) Fair City (RTE) and Mystic Knights (Fox). In 2012, she adapted, produced, and performed the critically acclaimed one-woman play Beside the Sea at the South Bank Centre and on tour, and starred in Goran Bregovic's new music drama, Margot, Diary of an Unhappy Queen at the Barbican. Other recent theatre credits also include Ramin Gray's production of Illusions by Ivan Viripaev (Bush Theatre), Dear Bessie: Letters Live with Benedict Cumberbatch (Hay Festival and West End).

Dwan writes, presents, lectures and teaches regularly on theatre, culture, and Beckett (BBC radio and television, NPR, the Guardian, the Telegraph, École Normale Supérieure, Trinity College Dublin and Reading University). She is currently artist in residence at Princeton University and at the school of Art and Ballet at NYU.

Joe Murphy is currently Associate Director at Soho Theatre and a freelance director with experience working in London, the West End, Broadway and internationally. He was Artistic Director of nabokov theatre company from 2010 to 2015, during which time the company presented the work of 88 playwrights and 496 artists cross three continents. He will take up his role as The Old Vic's Season 2 Baylis Director in September 2016 and in that capacity will be directing a new version of Woyzeck by Jack Thorne, starring John Boyega, at The Old Vic in May 2017.

Theatre credits as a director include What I Learned from Johnny Bevan (Soho Theatre and UK tour), Incognito (Bush Theatre), Blink and Bunny (Soho Theatre, UK tour and off-Broadway), The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas (Chichester Festival Theatre and UK tour), The Taming of the Shrew and Midsummer Night's Dream (Shakespeare's Globe and international tour). His Associate Director credits include Wolf Hall (RSC, West End and Broadway), This House (National Theatre), Henry V (Shakespeare's Globe and UK tour) and Ghost Stories (West End and Moscow).