Beckett Remembering / Remembering Beckett

Author:James Knowlson
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-61145-672-1
Publisher: Arcade Publishing (Perseus)
Published: 2010-12-31T16:00:00+00:00

Eileen O’Casey

Eileen O’Casey née Carey (1900-95), singer, dancer and actress who married Sean O’Casey in 1927. Mother of Niall, Shivaun and Breon. She wrote a biography of her husband, Seán (1971) and her own autobiography, Eileen (1976). These memories of Beckett are published with the kind agreement of her daughter, Shivaun.

Seán O’Casey never met Samuel Beckett, although there was mutual admiration. When Seán had his eightieth birthday in 1960, Beckett wrote in The Irish Times: ? send my enduring gratitude and homage to my great compatriot, Seán O’Casey, from France, where he is honoured.’

I was introduced to Samuel Beckett’s work on the stage when I took my young son, Niall, to see Waiting for Godot. We were enthralled. The first time I met Beckett was on 19 November 1963. I was with Jackie MacGowran and his wife, Gloria, and we went to see Uncle Vanya at the Old Vic Theatre. I liked Beckett immediately and I knew he liked me. Jackie had told me that Beckett did not usually go out to supper after the theatre, so it was a pleasant surprise when he asked us to join him at a restaurant called ‘Chez Solange’. We were in the restaurant upstairs, and it seemed to me that Beckett was well known there. We stayed there a long time; there was so much to talk about. Of course Seán came into our conversation a great deal. He was at our home in Devon, and when I was in London I used to telephone him each evening. On this particular evening, I telephoned him from the restaurant and, when he answered, I said, ‘I am here having supper with Samuel Beckett.’ Seán said, ‘What is he like?’ I remember replying, ‘He is like you in appearance. He has a great sense of humour, like you have - but different.’

After Seán’s death, I visited Paris and met Beckett there. From then on he became one of my dearest friends. I remember on one occasion I had gone to Paris to see Seán’s publishers, and also another old friend, Tom Curtiss, the theatre critic of the Herald Tribune. The weather was fine and Beckett took me to a restaurant where we ate outside. Then he took me for a walk around Paris. I told him I wanted to do some shopping: clothes for my son Breon, and for the husband of my daughter Shivaun. Beckett said he would go shopping with me, as he knew the places to go. He took me to my hotel and we arranged to meet the following day. I was dead tired after so much walking. To my dismay, at 9 o’clock the next morning the telephone rang and the receptionist was telling me in an awed voice, ‘Madame O’Casey, Monsieur Samuel Beckett is below waiting for you.’ I am afraid I had to tell Beckett that I would not be ready for an hour. He was as good as his word and took me to all the best

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