WORDS AND MUSIC Presented by Judith Wright Centre, Kupka’s Piano & Queensland Music Festival 

Sloth, love, ageing, and the meaninglessness of words themselves are explored in this enigmatic play by Samuel Beckett.

The work casts music as an actual ‘character’ in the work itself (although often also called Joe), who works with and sometimes against, ignores and sometimes taunts Words (often called Bob) as he gets lost in doubt-filled reflections, rambles, and songs. Interjecting throughout this strange dialogue, a third character, the inexplicable Croak, implores the two characters to “Be friends!” but it is clear that this relationship is an impossible one.

The music, written by American minimalist Morton Feldman in 1987, provides an eerie and often sarcastic counterpoint to Beckett’s famously witty and self-conscious wordplay. Words and Music will be followed by Feldman’s brilliant Why Patterns as a postlude. This production is a collaboration with award-winning stage and screen actor Helen Howard and actor Michael Fulcher, presented by the Queensland Music Festival.