WAITING FOR ... SAMUEL BECKETT
WAITING FOR ... SAMUEL BECKETT

Summary/Abstract: Between June 10 and 12, 2017, there took place in Bacău, under the umbrella of Waiting for ... Samuel Beckett, two conferences and a research-creation workshop, having as a special guest Liviu Dospinescu, professor of theatrical studies at Laval University (Québec, Canada). The event was initiated by the “Logos” Interdisciplinary Research Group from the Faculty of Letters of “Vasile Alecsandri” University of Bacӑu and was conducted in collaboration with “George Apostu” Cultural Centre and “Bacovia” Municipal Theatre. According to Peter Brook, any “empty space” crossed by a presence becomes a stage. However, Liviu Dospinescu sees two complementary aspects of the “empty space” in relation to Beckett’s theatre. On the one hand, as a “manifestation of minimalism” – the guest explains – “the void space is the trigger of the spectator's response”. The latter becomes active, a “specta(c)tor” that “fills in the void from the imagination with the figures from the stage”. On the other hand, “empty space” involves “an experience contrary to interpretation”, one that “can only be achieved in the absence of interpretation.” It consists precisely of the “feeling of presence experienced by the spectator” plunged into the atmosphere of the playing area. It is created in such a way that “it becomes a universe of virtual experiences, a simulacrum or a phenomenological «installation», as Liviu Dospinescu remarks.

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