Beckett: Lieben 2026

Liverpool: 17-20 September 2026

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Beckett: Lieben 2026 explores Beckett's fascination with German expressionism, which he first encountered through his relationship with the Sinclair family in Kassel in the 1930s. The full programme of theatre, music, visual art, photography, film, dance and discussion reflects the impact of German painters, writers and theatre makers on Beckett's life and oeuvre.

In keeping with this theme, world-renowned artist Sean Scully has made a Tree for Godot in steel, which will be presented as an installation environment where the tree is both listener and speaker. A number of texts will respond to this rooting of the Tree in Liverpool, including a reading of Catherine Morris' Intimate Power: Autobiography of a City (2025) by the students of LIPA.

This iteration of the festival will see a double bill of Beckett's Play + Come and Go directed by Adrian Dunbar at the Everyman Playhouse Liverpool and performances of Quadrat I-II at LIPA.

Tickets are now available for Play + Come and Go via the Everyman Playhouse website https://everymanplayhouse.com/event/beckett-lieben-2026-play-and-come-and-go/ and FREE tickets for Six Paintings are available via the Tung Auditorium's website at https://thetungauditorium.com/events/beckett-lieben-2026-six-paintings. 

Please check back here in the coming months for updates on the programme. If you want to be added to the Institute of Irish Studies mailing list and be informed of our news and events, including Beckett: Lieben updates, please email irish@liverpool.ac.uk. 

Please find below a brief schedule of events, please note that this is subject to alterations.

Thursday 17 September                                                   

Friday 18 September

Saturday 19 September

Sunday 20 September

Theatre

Play / Come and Go

Thursday, 17 September - 7:00 pm; Friday, 18 September - 7:00 pm; Saturday, 19 September - 1:00 pm;  Saturday, 19 September - 7:00 pm. 

Play (1962/63) was originally written by Samuel Beckett in English and was first performed (as Spiel) at Theater Ulm in June 1963. It was published in German in July of the same year. The fate of three characters, who find themselves trapped in three urns with only their heads showing, is forever sealed by an affair in the past. Their constant remembering might indeed seem an understandable obsession were it not for the on/off light of the unseen interrogator – dictating who speaks, and when.

Come and Go is a short play described as a “dramaticule” on its title page, dedicated to publisher John Calder. It was written in English in January 1965 and was first performed in German at the Schiller Theater Werkstatt, Berlin in January 1966. Critics consider this one of Beckett’s most “perfect” plays.

Beckett himself proposed the pairing to director Walter D. Asmus in Germany and they presented the double-bill together at the Schiller Theater in West Berlin in 1977, with Beckett directing Play and Asmus directing Come and Go.

Director: Adrian Dunbar
Actors: Clara Simpson, Anna Nygh, Orla Charlton, Frank McCusker
Light: Michael Cummins.

£15 (£12 Concessions) + Booking Fee: https://everymanplayhouse.com/event/beckett-lieben-2026-play-and-come-and-go/ 

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Sean Scully's Tree for Godot

Launched by Unreal Cities on Hampstead Heath to mark the occasion of the artist's 80th birthday in 2025, Sean Scully has created a Tree for Godot in steel, which in Liverpool will become an interactive installation, with the tree serving as both listener and speaker. A number of performances will respond to this rooting of the Tree for Godot in the city, including specially-commissioned performances by performer Steve Boyland and author Catherine Morris, whose book Intimate Power: Autobiography of a City (2025) will also be read by the students of the Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts (LIPA) alongside their live staging of Quadrat I-II.

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Kino / Cinema

The Lieben 2026 film programme includes the UK premiere of Irish director Declan Clarke's If I fall, don't pick me up, a biopic on German director Walter D. Asmus, a close collaborator of Beckett for many years.

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Keynote and Discussions

Professor Mark Nixon, the director of the Beckett International Foundation and the editor of Samuel Beckett's German Diaries 1936-1937, will give the keynote address.

Further talks will feature German director Walter D. Asmus, a close collaborator of Beckett for many years, who will be joined by Mark Nixon, and artist / architect Richard Pierce with a talk on Samuel Beckett and German Expressionism: An Abiding Love.

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Photography

The photography strand will feature Irish photographer John Minihan's 'Krapps Last Tape' and Steve Schapiro's set photography from Beckett's Film.

We already had the pleasure of listening to John Minihan give an illustrated talk about his encounters with Samuel Beckett as part of Beckett Unbound (2024), if you wish you can watch a recording of this, featuring Minihan's photos of Beckett on our YouTube channel at https://youtu.be/jspVqhDreDA. 

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Evening concert

Six Paintings

Sunday, 20 September - 7:30 pm. 

The Six Paintings concert explores the interplay between visual art and music, developed by Unreal Cities in consultation with Professor Mark Nixon, the director of the Beckett International Foundation and the editor of Beckett’s German diaries, to be published for the first time in 2026. 

The programme brings together six of the world’s leading musicians to respond to six paintings that each play a role in this complex story, alongside Samuel Beckett’s impressions and writings.

Voice + electronics: Iarla Ó Lionáird

Voice: Michelle O'Rourke

Gujin: Cheng Yu

Guitar: Niwel Tsumbu

Guitar: Benjamin Dwyer

Piano: Mary Dullea

Narration: Anna Nygh

FREE Tickets required: https://thetungauditorium.com/events/beckett-lieben-2026-six-paintings 

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