This simple premise is at the heart of Samuel Beckett’s novella Company, an exploration of the memories stirred by stillness and silence, brought to life as an intensely absorbing monologue by award-winning Dunedin actor Simon O’Connor.
O’Connor first performed Company during last year’s Fringe Festival, winning an outstanding performance award for the role at the 13th Dunedin Theatre Awards.
O’Connor said revisiting the piece had been a process of rediscovery and even deeper exploration by himself and director Richard Huber of the poetic, philosophical text.
"We have been testing the work we have done and making small adjustments — it has very much deepened our sense of it," O’Connor said.
For Huber, returning to the rehearsal process, which involves many hours of careful listening to the piece, has been absorbing and enjoyable.
"After about 10 minutes of being back into it, I was finding new things to experience," Huber said.
O’Connor said, as Company was a work of prose, with a non-linear story and language that was "complex in its simplicity", presenting it as a spoken-word piece required great focus.
"While it is non-linear, there are reference points and it regularly returns to its starting point — a man lying on his back in the dark and hearing a voice.
"He goes back into his memories, looking at different facets of his life and musing on their meaning."
In the end, the final conclusion — "alone" — is open to interpretation, O’Connor believes.
"My interpretation is that what is really meant is ‘all-one’, but it will be up to the audience to decide."
The staging of Company on April 2 and 3 at Allen Hall involves the lighting design genius of Martyn Roberts, which enables the team to create a "doubling" of the experience — the audience joins the man in the dark, listening to a voice.
Subtle sound design by Kerian Varaine helps to ensure that the audience’s ears do most of the work.
"It becomes a real communion for the audience and performer around a certain experience," Huber said.
In the hands of Beckett, who was renowned for his minimalist approach, Company was not only tragic, but playful and mischievous, he said.
"It is such a fascinating piece — it teases and tricks and strips away all illusion."
• Produced by afterburner and directed by Richard Huber, with lighting design by Martyn Roberts and sound design by Kerian Varaine, Samuel Beckett’s Company will be staged on April 2 and 3, from 7pm, at Allen Hall.
