Rufus Norris directs Beckett's Not I at Reading University
A review of Rufus Norris's production of Samuel Beckett's Not I, starring soprano Claire Booth as the disembodied Mouth, part of the 2026 Beckett Biennale
Claire Booth performs as a disembodied mouth in a new staging of Samuel Beckett's short play Not I. The production, directed by Rufus Norris, is part of the 2026 Beckett Biennale at Reading University's Minghella Theatre.
The show is a three-part programme. It begins with Luciano Berio's experimental vocal piece Sequenza III, performed by soprano Claire Booth. This is followed by a trio of short films about Beckett's connection to Folkestone, where he married in 1961. The evening culminates in Beckett's brief, intense drama.
A Staggering Central Performance
None of the preamble is necessary for the main event to land. The Mouth, also played by Booth, proves immediately arresting. It operates with a shocking speed and urgency, grasping for a truth that lies just beyond its rapid articulations. Syntax breaks down in the process.
Under Rufus Norris's direction, the academic setting of a university theatre feels far from dusty. Booth's delivery captures a racing brain and a split interior self. There is a desperate speed to the replaying of a life that seems to flash before a woman's eyes-or rather, her mouth. The narrative spans from her birth to a moment in a field among cowslips at age seventy, which might be the moment of death.
Musicality and Desperation
Booth brings a distinct musicality to the role. She sings words and adds operatic cadence. These flecks of song suggest the character could be a darker version of Winnie from Beckett's Happy Days. She is not buried in earth but reduced to just a mouth, still speaking before being covered completely by silence.
From the repetitions and verbal stutters, one gleans that this life has been hard, loveless, and undermining. Yet there is an insistent need to speak it aloud. Like many Beckett characters, this mouth seems to assert its survival through sound and words. The play does not end because she stops talking; it simply tunes her voice out.
A Deeply Moving Conclusion
Her vulnerability within the vast, pitch-black emptiness that swallows her is startling and heartbreaking. The Guardian's review states the single spotlight's fade to black "almost brings tears to your eyes." The production is described as a "strangely, deeply moving 15 minutes."
The show runs at the Minghella Theatre until 20 September.
