Director Jonathan Holmes explores Beckett, metaphysics and poetry

22nd June 2012

 

INTERVIEW: JONATHAN HOLMES

The Artistic Director of Jericho House tells Sophie Reynolds about Old Earth, the stage premiere of a series of monologues by Samuel Beckett, which he directed as part of the Spitalfields Music Festival in June 2012. Old Earth starred Alan Howard, and featured a specially-commissioned musical score by Alec Roth, performed by members of The Sixteen. Recorded: 18 June 2012. Some background noise.

For an actor, the poetic tells you how to perform it and metaphysic tells you what it is about, and as long as you’re not going along the lines of, you know, who is this person, what did they have for breakfast and who are his parents, how old is he, as long as you are happy not to get those kinds of descriptive details in place, then everything you need is there.