Something For The Weekend: Lisa Dwan's Cultural Picks

Actress Lisa Dwan is one of the foremost interpreters of the works of Samuel Beckett. She has toured all over the world with her acclaimed Beckett Trilogy Not I, Footfalls and Rockaby, to venues in London, New York, Perth, Paris, Belfast, Hong Kong, Boston, Galway, Belfast, Los Angeles and Toronto. When she's not traversing stages across the globe, Lisa writes, presents, lectures and teaches regularly on theatre, culture and Samuel Beckett.

Lisa is currently playing ‘Anna’ in an acclaimed new version of Tolstoy’s epic Anna Karenina by Marina Carr at the Abbey Theatre - the production runs until 28 January 2017. No’s Knife – A selection of Samuel Beckett’s Texts for Nothing conceived and performed by Lisa will run on the Abbey stage from 10-17 June 2017.

Film

I must admit I haven't had much time to see any films this past year. I was of course, like any sentient being, riveted by Saoirse Ronan's performance in Brooklyn which I've seen twice now, every cell of hers is available to us and of course I was broken by Iarla Ó Lionáird’s voice. I only recently got to see the 2014 film Timbuktu which has to be one of the most shocking and impactful films I’ve seen in years written and directed by Abderrahmane Sissako about the occupation by Ansar Dine. It provides a subtle and complex depiction of how a brutal fundamental regime can infect and take hold of a society without the blindfold of moral authority being waved about. Socking, heartbreaking and inspiring all the same time.

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Music

At the moment I’m really inspired by Thomas Bartlett, his last album under the pseudonym Doveman did not receive the attention and the accolades I believe it should have; more recently he's responding to the American presidency with some chilling artistic offerings and releasing them online. Bold moves like these provide other artists like me who woke up the morning of the election results utterly flattened, a path to respond to these very depressing and regressive times.

I also have been listening constantly to Nick Cave's most recent album Skeleton Tree, I can't imagine what it cost him to create this in the wake of his son’s death. I had it on constant repeat when I was rehearsing for No's Knife (my one woman play at the Old Vic, which is coming to the Abbey in 2017) and after my first preview I was blown away to hear he was in the audience. My stage manager and I shared a little tear and I whispered to her "we make work that Nick Cave comes to" a nod from someone you really admire can in an instant make sense of all the strife and self-doubt it takes to create work.

Books

The only refuge I have in the past year from memorizing reams of text of either Beckett, Conor McPherson's or Marina Carr's is poetry... I’ve always turned to poetry to help me see myself and world around me clearer. At the moment I'm constantly drawn to Maya Angelou, Sharon Olds, Rumi and Ted Hughes but Marina Carr recently gave me the completed works of Patrick Kavanagh and I'm loving returning to someone I had taken so much for granted when I was in school.

The last novel I read was Swing Time by Zadie Smith which as a dancer really spoke to me and has really stayed with me months after reading it.

I'm gutted that my friend AA Gill passed away recently, and over the Christmas I want to read his memoir which I never got around to reading when he was alive, he was one of the kindest and funniest people I’ve been lucky enough to know and love on my path.

I'm so ashamed by how much TV I miss because I always seem to be on a plane or in a theatre these past few years, but last February I was very ill and binged watched all of the two Danish series The Bridge and The Legacy which were dangerously compulsive viewing with extraordinary performances. Paul McGuinness is currently producing a very exciting series for Sky Atlantic called Riviera which I saw the first few episodes of and loved.

Play

I thought Aoife Duffin's performance in Girl is Half Formed Thing directed by the great Annie Ryan and written by the brilliant Eimear McBride was just out of this world as was Denise Gough's performance in People Places and Things, I find women like this so inspiring - isn’t it just so amazing to see our international stages being dominated by strong Irish Women? The one play in the last few years that I don't think I took a full breath during was Ivo Van Hove's version of A View from the Bridge his lean, confident and extremely potent take on Arthur Miller’s masterpiece was mesmerizing.

Gig

When I was performing in Toronto last I was taken one night after my performance to a gig by my friend Leslie Feist to the Canadian legend and her old flat mate Peaches. I was utterly blown away by her power, humour, angry irony and talent, she blew the bloody roof off the place! I'm totally in awe of her.

Art

There is currently a retrospective of my friend Marilyn Minter's work in the Brooklyn Museum in New York which I would give my eye teeth to get to. I adore Marilyn and her work which is edgy, hypnotic, controversial, humorous and beautiful all at the same time. The show is called Pretty/Dirty which as a strong modern feminist she challenges and explores the 'pathology of glamour' as she creates something so raw, rare, bare and honest, there are extremely haunting prisms where both ugly and beauty, exploitation and fragility all co-exist.

The Next Big Thing...

I’m very excited about Martha Wainwright's next album which is just about to be released and especially Leslie Feist's because these woman are incredible poets - I also can't wait to read whatever Marina Carr writes next. Yael Farber and the extraordinary Olwen Fouere are collaborating again to do Salome at the National Theatre in London, a marvellous sounding project where these powerhouses of theatre reclaim our female mythical characters and give them back to us fully formed.

Something For The Weekend: Lisa Dwan's Cultural Picks

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