Irish Actor Barry McGovern Reads from Yeats, Joyce and Beckett September 19 at Literary House

CHESTERTOWN, MD—Irish actor Barry McGovern will bring literature to life with a reading at the Rose O’Neill Literary House at Washington College on Wednesday, September 19. Part of the Sophie Kerr Lecture Series, McGovern’s reading will feature the works of Irish literary giants W.B. Yeats, James Joyce, and Samuel Beckett. The event, which is free and open to the public, will begin at 4:30 p.m.

         In a career that spans decades, McGovern has performed for stage, film, television, and radio. He has acted in Hollywood blockbusters such as Braveheart, and in global theatrical productions that have focused heavily on the playwright Samuel Beckett.

          In addition to his one-man Beckett show, I’ll Go On, he has performed with the Dublin’s Gate Theatre touring company in productions of Waiting for Godot, Endgame, and Happy Days. He portrayed Vladimir in Waiting for Godot more times than any other living actor, most notably at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles in a production hailed by Variety theatre critic Bob Verini as “near-flawless” and “a stunning revival.”

         McGovern most recently appeared in Glengarry Glen Ross at Dublin’s Gate Theatre, and in a new one-man Beckett show, Watt, at the Edinburgh Festival.

         The September 19 reading is sponsored by the Sophie Kerr Committee. The Rose O’Neill Literary House is located at 407 Washington Avenue, Chestertown. For more information: http://lithouse.washcoll.edu/.