Theatre director speaks at seminar on Samuel Beckett

 Walter D. Asmus, acclaimed theatre director and collaborator of Irish playwright Samuel Beckett, spoke at the 35^th annual Beckett International Foundation research seminar, hosted at the University of Reading’s Minghella Studios on 1 November. At the event, Asmus was made an Honorary Trustee of the Samuel Beckett Society.

Asmus was assistant director when Beckett directed his own production of Waiting for Godot in 1975 at the Schiller-Theater, Berlin. In conversation with Dr Matthew McFrederick (Co-Director of the Beckett International Foundation), he spoke about meeting Beckett and their long association over He has since been responsible for creating many significant Beckett productions in some of the world’s most noted theatres , including Come and Go for Berlin’s Schiller Theater (1977), Waiting for Godot at the Brooklyn Academy of Music (1978), Waiting for Godot at Dublin’s Gate Theatre (1988 – 2008) and Not I/Footfalls/Rockaby at London’s Royal Court Theatre (2013-2015).

The seminar brought together international experts on the topic, with speakers from the University of Leeds, Queen’s University Belfast and Ulster University.

Strengthening Reading’s connection to Beckett

Dr McFrederick said: ‘It was wonderful to have Walter visit the University to reflect on his experiences as Beckett’s assistant director for what was the 50^th anniversary of his seminal production of Warten auf Godot (Waiting for Godot)

In a moving and fascinating conversation, he shared recollections of Beckett’s directorial approach, the actors, its influence on his own later productions of Godot in New York, London and Dublin, as well as the impact of Beckett on his own craft and life.’

Dr McFrederick, who was also Asmus’s assistant director on Not I/Footfalls/Rockaby, has recently published an academic monograph, Staging Beckett in London, a 70-year history of Beckett’s drama in London theatres. Funded by the University’s Open Access Monograph fund, the book features an earlier interview with Asmus, as well as other notable figures from British and Beckettian theatre history.

The University of Reading is home to The Samuel Beckett Research Centre and the Beckett Collection, the world’s largest collection of the Irish author’s works. Part of the University’s Special Collections, the archive comprises hundreds of original manuscripts, notes, correspondences, photographs, books, and other ephemera, making it a wealth of information for scholars of theatre and literature. The centre was founded in 1971 by Professor Emeritus James Knowlson, a personal friend of Beckett and his ‘sole authorised biographer’.

The Collections have also proved a valuable research resource for visiting theatre professionals, including Keanu Reeves (John Wick, Point Break) and Alex Winters (Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure), who browsed the archives in April 2025 ahead of their current Broadway production of Waiting for Godot.

Items and manuscripts belonging to friend of Samuel Beckett, novelist James Joyce (Ulysses, Finnegan’s Wake) are on display at The MERL in the ‘James Joyce: Enigmas & Puzzles’ exhibition, running until 9 February 2026.