Rufus Norris's 'Not I' Review: A Mouth Steals the Show — SkimNews
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- Rufus Norris directs a production of Samuel Beckett's short play 'Not I' at the Minghella Theatre in Reading, characterized in the review as 'strange and deeply moving.'
- Claire Booth, a soprano, stars as the sole performer, her mouth isolated against a black background and described as 'unstoppably animated' to capture 'the racing brain of a desperate woman.'
- The staging opens with a 'long preamble' performed in darkness before Beckett's play begins.
- Luciano Berio's music is incorporated into the production, lending it the 'added operatic flair' the reviewer highlights.
- The review frames the close-up animated mouth as the visual and emotional engine of the entire production.
Why it matters: By stripping Beckett's minimalist 'Not I' down to a single soprano's mouth against darkness and layering in Berio's operatic score, Norris's production offers audiences a novel sensory encounter with a canonical short play — and gives Booth, a soprano rather than a stage actor, an unexpected vehicle to lead the show.
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