Theater Review - Bend it like Beckett

You might say that Collective Works’ hilarious production of The Complete Lost Works of Samuel Beckett takes sort of a “Folgers Crystals” approach to satirizing the playwright of Waiting for Godot.

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If some of the Lost parodies were produced alongside actual Beckett short plays, the audience may not taste the difference, although they’d probably laugh more loudly. The first short, “Table Talk,” opens on a perfectly Beckett-like scenario, with an unspeaking servant (George Faughnan) holding up a table with no leg on his side, preventing him from leaving lest it topple over. “Table Talk” unfolds like a sci-fi spoof of Endgame’s master-slave dynamic, only the boss occupies a jar on the table.

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Unlike the similarly titled The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged), Lost does justice to the style and ideas of the famed Irish writer while still lampooning his trademark bleakness, his control-freak attitude toward productions and the obsessive nature of his scholar. As the host of the evening, director Steven Westdahl nearly coos over the crumpled-up balls of paper and other garbage scraps purported to be buried treasures.

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Playwrights Greg Allen, Ben Schneider and Danny Thompson (all members of Chicago’s inventive Neo-Futurists troupe) at times bring incongruous pop references into Beckett’s dreary worldview. “If” makes maddening yet uproarious use of a familiar song by Bread, while “Foot Falls Flatley” views an Irish dance import through Beckett’s jaundiced attitude. “Happy Happy Bunny Visits Sad Sad Owl,” performed by puppeteer Raymond Carr, suggests what a collaboration between Beckett and Mr. Rogers might be like.

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Lost will play best with audiences already familiar with Beckett’s works, particularly given the specific parodies of the famous shorts “Not I” and “Rockaby.” Much of the humor relies on theatrical in-jokes, but given that Atlanta theaters staged a Year of Beckett (including “Not I” and “Rockaby”) in 2006, the time is ripe for the play, which Collective Works stages with high spirits and snappy improvisational energy. It’s hard to say whether the irreverent treatment would have Beckett rolling in his grave or rolling in the aisles.