Back in 1981, when Maguy Marin was a young and unknown choreographer, she wrote to Samuel Beckett asking for permission to adapt his work. She had no expectation of a reply, but the great man not only approved the project but also invited Marin to meet him and discuss it. The result was May B, a scrupulously moving, clever and funny homage, which has just been given a well-deserved revival at the Happy Days festival in Enniskillen.
Only a fragment of Beckett is actually spoken in May B – the opening line from Endgame “Finished, it’s finished, nearly finished, it must be nearly finished.” But that one line is key to Marin’s choreographic choice. All of Beckett’s language has a musical pulse and pattern, but the more minimalist his works become, the closer they also veer towards choreography, to a dance of words and silence. It’s that near-abstract Beckett which Marin evokes during the opening section of May B.
Her 10 dancers look barely human; their faces streaked with clay, their movements reduced to repetitive shuffling, their speech garbled to rhythmic grunts and sighs. They’re like a distillation of all Beckett characters, a community of derelict souls. But as the piece progresses, Marin layers in more expressively individual detail – a larky smile, a jaunty caper, a gesture of stoic tenderness – that bring each dancer’s personality to comic and delicate life.
Later, specifically recognisable characters materialise: Lucky and Pozzo; Clov tending Hamm in his wheelchair. Marin also choreographs more overtly dramatic vignettes, as they squabble over birthday cake, fumble after some geriatric sex or line up for a collective journey, luggage in hand, faces lifted towards a destination that will always elude them.
Marin’s romantic choice of music (Schubert and Gavin Bryars) might seem at odds with the rigour of her conception. Yet it’s actually typical of the visionary assurance with which this piece has been crafted. Given how early May B was made in Marin’s career, it’s astonishing how well it is paced and how beautifully observed its detail.
Happy Days is a festival filled with good surprises: a reading of All That Fall in total black-out; a sunset performance of Ohio Impromptu on the site of an island monastery. But director Seán Doran deserves extra credit for reviving May B – a gem of European dance theatre that deserves to be much more widely known.
Happy Days festival continues until 3 August. Box office: 020-8663 5440
