Irish writer Samuel Beckett is universally regarded as having changed the shape of modern theatre forever. CENTRE STAGE, which has been presenting and touring the best of Ulster and International theatre for 15 years will be offering four Beckett classics for their autumn season. Not only will the plays be performed by two of Ulster‘s most seasoned performers - GORDON FULTON and ROMA TOMELTY- but for the first time in Ireland - North or South - audiences will see one of Beckett's last plays - Ohio Impromptu.

OHIO IMPROMPTU - First performed in Ohio State University in 1981, Gordon Fulton plays ' The Reader ' in this short play in which Beckett returns to one of his most familiar and potent themes - the relentlessness of time and man‘s inability to change his circumstances, a theme he brilliantly explored in his masterpiece WAITING FOR GODOT.

ROCKABYE - Written in English in 1980 and first performed in Buffalo.N.Y. in 1981. Roma Tomelty performs this first professional Northern Ireland production of this haunting short piece.Embraced by the arms of a stylish rocking chair, a woman, prematurely aged, listens to an old voice.But is it her own voice she hears or her mothers? And is she rocking back to the womb or towards the grave?

NOT I - A small masterpiece in which the sole protagonist MOUTH attemps to justify actions through emotions and not words. A profoundly moving play.

KRAPP'S LAST TAPE - One of Beckett's best known plays in which Krapp - now an old man - reviews his life, with the aid of tape recordings made during his youth.

Gordon Fulton in rehearsal for Krapps Last Tape

The plays will be performed in most of the North‘s premier venues and extensively in the South.including Armagh, Derry, Larne, Donaghmore, Antrim, Listowel, Limerick, Cork, and Monaghan before beginning a residency at The Golden Thread Theatre as part of the Belfast Festival at Queens. A feature of the tour will be the workshops - offered to schools throughout the country. These will be free to any school attending the production. Beckett plays are widely performed by undergraduate companies. With seasoned actors in the main roles, both with experience of teaching drama to young people, these workshops offer schools a unique opportunity to gain first hand knowledge of Beckett on the professional stage. Drama is now a widely encouraged subject on both the G.C.S.E. and G.N.V.Q syllabus.