Jonathan Swift - Talking through his hat

Written and performed by Michael Harding
Directed by Cabrini Cahill
Designed by Heidi Wickham

Michael Harding, one of Ireland's leading writers and performers, presents this exploration of Jonathan Swift whose writings during the Enlightenment were of notable influence on Samuel Beckett.

This event follows Harding's two month residency and on-going collaboration with Théâtre du Radeau in Le Mans. It is presented within the Centre Culturel Irlandais programme celebrating the centenary of the birth of Samuel Beckett as part of the Paris Beckett Festival.

The evening will also include a post-show discussion on the performance in the context of French theatre, and the influence of French theatre on Irish playwrighting, drawing directly on Harding's experience with a French theatre company.

Image: Death Mask of Jonathan Swift - Lawrence Hutton Collection of Life and Death Masks. Department of Rare Books and Special Collections. Princeton University Library