Dreamlike Appeal of Beckett’s Work Evident at Grove

Samuel Beckett is a difficult playwright, hard-edged and obscure yet filmic in his basis intent. For anyone interested in the most accessible Beckett, Hollywood’s Matrix Theatre is presenting “Waiting for Godot.” For those interested in the dark purity of Beckett’s thought in his later years, the Grove Theater Center is presenting “The Beckett Project,” Friday and Saturday nights.

Beckett was always a minimalist, and at the end of his career he practically erased theatricality as most people know it. Three of these plays were written during his latter years (Beckett died in 1989).

They are mere thoughts--or, rather, experiences, for thought is not Beckett’s message. Like faintly recalled dream fragments, his images are subjective, and often spellbinding. They insinuate themselves into the viewer’s mind and heart without specific reference to the experience portrayed.

“Ohio Impromptu,” directed and performed by Phillip Zarilli and Paeder Kirk, presents a mirror image, two men with flowing gray wigs, heads bent forward and hidden by a supporting hand. They do not move. One (Zarilli) mumbles as he reads from a book. He pauses uncertainly when the other knocks on the table, his signal to go back and reread from a prior point. The calm, and the quietude, sink into one as in a dream, oneself going back and reliving, going back and reliving.

Zarilli, with assistance by Kirk, is also featured in “Act Without Words” (1956), a mime play in which Zarilli rushes into the light, is tripped up, rises and dusts himself off. He stares in utter confusion into space, then walks off. Suddenly he rushes back, is tripped up and it begins again. The feeling of a treadmill of life passing the man by each time is indelible and frightening.

Veteran GTC actress Patricia Boyette appears in two of the pieces, “Not I,” in which only her illuminated mouth is seen, with breathless speed recalling a life that is rushing to its doom without understanding, without sense.

A similar moment is captured in “Rockabye,” with Boyette as an aging woman fighting her way through memory and pain and boredom toward her oblivion, as her voice laconically drones on, pauses. When the voice pauses, the woman says, “More,” and continues rocking into her eternity.

All three of these performers are well-versed in Beckett, particularly Boyette, who has spent much time with English actress Billie Whitelaw, delving into the playwright’s reasons and methods. All three understand Beckett’s intent and present these minimal works with style and the fire Beckett provides.

The pieces are short and though the 10-minute intermissions between are inclined to be longer than the plays, it is a gratifying evening for those interested in some small, analytical thoughts provided by one of the 20th century’s most forward seeking and inventive authors.

* “The Beckett Project,” Gem Theater, Grove Theater Center, 12852 Main St., Garden Grove. Friday-Saturday, 8 p.m. Ends Saturday. $18.50-$22.50. (714) 741-9555. Running time: 1 hour, 40 minutes.