THE third Enniskillen International Beckett Festval descends on Enniskillen this week and Ardhowen Theatre is at the heart of the action.

Samuel Beckett (1906-89), the Irish novelist, playwright, and poet is widely regarded as among the most influential writers of the 20th century.

Like Oscar Wilde before him Beckett spent his formative years attending Portora Royal School where he excelled in both academics and sports. In 1923 he entered Trinity College in Dublin to specialise in French and Italian which led to a two-year post as lecteur in English at the École Normale Supérieure in Paris where he went on to spend most of his adult life. His years in France were his most productive and in 1969 he won the Nobel Prize for literature.

Happy Days, the world’s first annual festival to celebrate the work and influence of Beckett, opens at Ardhowen Theatre on Thursday, July 31, at 7pm with ‘En Attendant Godot’ performed by Theatre NoNo with further performances on Friday, August 1, at 7pm and Saturday, August 2, at 1pm. This production will be performed in French, the language in which ‘Waiting For Godot’ was originally written, and will have English subtitles.

Samuel Beckett’s ‘Words and Music’ on Monday, August 4, at 10.30am is a radio music-drama of interchanges between two art forms: Words (‘Joe’) and Music (‘Bob’). Creative tensions between the two characters and the arts are mediated by an old man, Croak. Beckett was quoted as saying “music always wins”. This production is directed by Netia Jones described by the Observer as ‘the most imaginative director of opera working in Britain today’.

‘Krapp’s Last Tape’ on Wednesday, August 6, and Thursday, August 7, at 8pm is considered by many as Beckett’s most ‘perfect’ play. The one act play originally titled the ‘Magee Monologue’, was inspired by the Northern Irish actor Patrick Magee whose voice and ‘banana walk’ Beckett admired. The 69-year-old Krapp listens and interjects with his taped 39-year-old self, tenderly and scoffing. The play recalls Krapp’s early love, some think modelled on Beckett’s early love of his cousin Peggy Sinclair whom he spent time with in Kassel, Germany in 1933.

This production stars Klaus Maria Brandauer, one of our legendary stage actors as well as a film director and actor with many highly acclaimed credits including his award winning lead role in Istvan Szabo’s film Mephisto (1981) earning him a BAFTA nomination; his popularly acclaimed performance as Maximillian Largo, the villain opposite Sean Connery’s James Bond in Never Say Never Again (1983) and an Oscar nominated performance opposite Robert Redford and Meryl Streep in Out of Africa winning him a Golden Globe Award. This will be his first appearance in Ireland.

‘I Went To The House But Did Not Enter’ on Saturday, August 9t, at 3pm and 8pm, premiered at the Edinburgh International Festival. Happy Days presents the third and last section of this work which is inspired by Samuel Beckett’s late prose text ‘Worstward Ho’ and its most famous line “Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better.” This will be the first presentation in Ireland of Heiner Goebbels’ music-theatre, and the last ever presentation of this production. Don’t miss out.

The festival was founded and is directed by Derry born, Beckett fan, Seán Doran, a classical musician who ran English National Opera for several years and has a major festival track record, including stints at festivals in Belfast and Perth.

Gavin Bryars, Tacita Dean, Adrian Dunbar, Antony Gormley and Steve McQueen are amongst the artists featured in the many and varied events in the Beckett programme.

See the full programme of events at www.happy-days-enniskillen.com, where you can purchase tickets or alternatively call the theatre box office.

FUTURE EVENTS Clubsound returns to Ardhowen on August 16 followed by An Evening with Red Hurley on August 22 and Amanda Rheaume performs in the Gallery Bar on August 23.

Clubsound started life as a skiffle band and then a pop band known as the Monarchs before evolving into Clubsound – Ireland’s premier comedy showband.

Clubsound were the most successful showband group from Northern Ireland from the 1960s to the 1990s. The current line up features radio personality George Jones, Davey McKnight, Barry Woods, Alan McCartney and Jimmy Black. A great night of craic and fun is guaranteed.

Johnny Cash fans will enjoy a tribute to the popular musical legend in ‘The Man In Black’ on August 29 and Jack Lynch and Len Graham will be telling Tall Tales and Musical Stories on August 30.