Staging Beckett: the Impact of Productions of Samuel Beckett’s Drama on Theatre Practice and Cultures in the United Kingdom and Ireland (2012-2015): a three-year AHRC-funded research project

The University of Reading, alongside project partners, the University of Chester and the Victoria and Albert Museum, will be creating a database and research materials relating to all professional productions of Beckett’s theatre throughout the UK and Ireland.

It will draw on original archival material in the University of Reading’s world-leading Beckett Collection, the Victoria and Albert Museum’s Theatre and Performance archives in London, and other archive collections across Britain and Ireland. The project will examine the role Samuel Beckett played in shaping modern theatre practice in the UK and Ireland and will enable a unique picture of British and Irish theatres to emerge through their approaches to staging Beckett.

The project will be a pilot for a national performance database which will hold information about UK past and future performances. Once the Staging Beckett project is completed in 2015, the V&A plans to make the Beckett database available online as a resource for researchers, linked to a project website at the University of Reading.

The Staging Beckett project is led by Professor Anna McMullan (University of Reading), Dr Graham Saunders (University of Reading) and Professor David Pattie (University of Chester), in partnership with the Victoria and Albert Museum.