Eh Joe

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Eh Joe is a one-act, thirty-minute play written by Samuel Beckett. It was originally written in 1965 for television, starring Jack MacGowran. The play involves only one actor and an off-screen female voice. The premise of the play is the tightening shot onto the actor's face as he is worn down by the words of the voice. He becomes more broken and ragged as the play progresses, as the terrible things that he has done are mentioned.

The play was recently performed at the Duke of York's Theatre in London with Michael Gambon as Joe. Canadian film director Atom Egoyan staged the play according to Beckett's instructions. Gambon does not speak a word during the whole performance, while live projections (close-ups) of his face reveals his reactions to the woman's voice (Penelope Wilton). Gambon was due to perform Eh Joe at the Sydney Festival in January 2007 for a special Beckett Season (joined by Ralph Fiennes performing "First Love" and Barry McGovern performing "I'll Go On") but had to pull out due to personal reasons. He was replaced by Charles Dance.

The Plays of Samuel Beckett

Stage Plays: Act Without Words I, Act Without Words II, Breath, Catastrophe, Come and Go, Eleutheria (posthumous), Endgame, Footfalls, Happy Days, Krapp's Last Tape, Not I, Ohio Impromptu, A Piece of Monologue, Play, Rockaby, Rough for Theatre I, Rough for Theatre II, That Time, Waiting for Godot, What Where Radio Plays: All That Fall, Cascando, Embers, The Old Tune, Rough for Radio I, Rough for Radio II, Words and Music Television Plays: ...but the clouds..., Eh Joe, Ghost Trio, Nacht und Träume, Quad Screenplays: Film