Cork couple do their bit for Samuel Beckett

Conor Lovett and Judy Hegarty Lovett are renowned in the theatre world for their Beckett productions. Marc O’Sullivan Vallig visited them in France where they offer a chance for people who want to explore the world of the great writer

Judy Hegarty Lovett and Connor Lovett in Paris. Picture: Augusta Sagnelli

No one familiar with Gare St Lazare Ireland’s body of work will have been surprised by the success of what the  Hollywood Reporter hailed as their “authentically powerful” production of Samuel Beckett’s  Waiting for Godot at the Geffen Theatre in Los Angeles late last year.

Gare St Lazare is run by Cork couple Judy Hegarty Lovett, who directed the production, and her partner Conor Lovett, who played Pozzo. They launched the company in 1996, when Hegarty Lovett first directed Lovett in their acclaimed adaptation of Beckett’s novel Molloy at the Battersea Arts Centre in London, and they have since presented the Nobel Laureate’s work to rapt audiences all over the world. In Los Angeles, more than 26,000 people saw their Godot, which also starred Rainn Wilson of NBC’s The Office as Vladimir and Aasif Mandvi of The Daily Show as Estragon, over its seven-week run.