In 1973 and 1974, Samuel Beckett translated a set of his prose poems, Foirades, into English as Fizzles. (The French “diarrhea” or “shit” becomes a slightly more ambiguous English.) Foirades/Fizzles entered into limited circulation as an elegant collaboration with Jasper Johns, published by Petersburg Press; in 1976, Grove Press produced an expanded run. Johns’s etchings emphasize his calligraphic and repetitive style. Of one fizzle, Marjorie Perloff has commented that the “phrasing is that of a telegram.”

On June 4, Triple Canopy will host an hour-long interpretation of Beckett and Johns’s artist book by the New York–based Piehole theater group. Incorporating theater, dance, electroacoustic sound, and live and recorded video projection, Piehole’s The Fizzles promises a compellingly imperfect meeting of media.

Directed by Tara Ahmadinejad
Co-produced by Piehole and Mud/Bone
Adapted by Tara Ahmadinejad, Allison Laplatney, and Jeff Wood
Dramaturgy by Elliot B Quick
Sound by Lea Bertucci
Video by Aniela Coveleski
Lighting Design by Vadim Ledvin
Choreography by Rebecca Warner
Performed by Alice Winslow, Allison Laplatney, Jeff Wood, Anne Troup, and Mark Lanham
Stage Managed by Alexandra Lubensky