Samuel Beckett refused Ingmar Bergman and Laurence Olivier permission to stage his 1957 radio play, saying “it was written to come out of the dark.” Trevor Nunn was also refused and the Beckett Estate only relented when he said he would stage it as if it were being performed for radio with microphones and the actors retaining their scripts throughout. All That Fall is minor Beckett; but, with Eileen Atkins and Michael Gambon in the leading roles, it has become a major event. Atkins’s grief-stricken performance (“Have you no respect for misery?”) is perfect. She plays an elderly woman, living in rural Ireland, who makes a journey to a railway station to meet her blind husband. On the way she encounters a number of local people. Arriving at the station she finds the train has been delayed. Later she learns there was an accident and a child was killed.
Beckett’s theme (“we are all alone”) is underlined in that key moment when the couple recall the text from the preacher’s sermon (“The Lord upholdeth all that fall and raises up all those he bowed down”) and laugh hysterically. The run is completely sold out. Ideally, a sound only recording of the cast should be made. The hybrid staging isn’t strictly necessary; so listeners will lose nothing essential.