Article: Try again. Fail again. Fail better; Samuel Beckett.(Beckett Centenary Festival)

Funny man

But watch for the laughter behind the nothingness

"NOTHING is funnier than unhappiness," says Nell, an immobile, daffy dustbin-dweller, in Samuel Beckett's play "Endgame". For Beckett, an Irish playwright born 100 years ago who won the Nobel prize in literature in 1969, adversity and decrepitude were a rich source of humour. The frequently heard charge, that his stuff is morbid and joyless, is altogether wide of the mark.

London and Dublin are celebrating his centenary with festivals that kick off this Sunday. A highlight in both cities will be a revival of the 1984 production, overseen by Beckett himself, of "Waiting for Godot", his ...

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