The Resident Acting Company Releases Film Version of PLAY by Samuel Beckett

The Resident Acting Company has just released a film version of "Play" by Samuel Beckett. It is available to watch free of charge on their website for three months through a special agreement with the Estate of Samuel Beckett. racnyc.org

Artistic Director Bradford Cover says, "We wanted to create something on Zoom that we felt would actually work in that format, and so I turned to Beckett. After re-reading a few of his plays I realized that during this pandemic we are essentially living in Beckett's world. A world where we feel trapped, and the daily practices of getting dressed and going to work across one's apartment seem completely ridiculous. We are also living more in our minds and our subconscious, and when I read Beckett's "Play" I immediately felt a strong connection to our new collective reality. We did an in house reading of it, and I just loved it right away. We were very happy to get the rights."

"Play" is eighteen minutes long and was shot on Zoom. The actors, Rachel Botchan, Bradford Cover, and Jolly Abraham were located in their own homes, Brooklyn, Manhattan and Dublin, Ireland respectively, and the film was cut and edited afterwards. The Resident Acting Company is an ensemble of actors and often will create work without a director, and that was the case here.

What is "Play" about? "Well," says Cover, "I think it is better to come to this piece without knowing too much about it. I'll just say that it is about three people who are stuck. They are thinking deeply about events from their past, and are having trouble navigating their current existence.

It is very much a Beckett play and it contains a kind of electric beauty. The language uses off-beat rhythms and sounds that are simultaneously disturbing and gorgeous, and it takes the viewer to a very interesting place. Be sure to press the full screen button!"

"We have plans to make more of these kinds of films," Cover says. "We are working with a group of writers to create some new work that is designed to exist on the video conferencing platform."

Cover adds, "This is a really rough time for our industry. We are going to keep creating in spite of the restrictions, and keep telling stories. We are also re-defining what a classic play is. Too many works written by people of color have been neglected and we hope to change that as well. The audience not only needs a distraction from all the stress that the pandemic has created, but they also need the arts to help them understand it, and process it."