ENNISKILLEN actor Adrian Dunbar has said that the legendary Irish literary light Samuel Beckett was ‘a secular saint to me’ as he prepares to honour his memory in Liverpool.
At the end of this month, the Fermanagh man is set to lead an eight-day festival in Liverpool, titled ‘Beckett: Unbound’, to celebrate the life of the hugely popular poet.
Dunbar, who rose to prominence through his role as Superintendent Ted Hastings in BBC One drama ‘Line of Duty’, is looking forward to playing his part in the celebration of Samuel Beckett.
“I follow him [Samuel Beckett] blindly. He’s like a secular saint to me,” the 65-year-old told The Guardian.
“Engaging with [Samuel] Beckett makes you think about the fundamentals of life.
“Those fundamentals are sometimes hard to engage with, but at the end, when he drives everything to a conclusion, he also makes you feel something that is liberating.”
The 83-year-old, who died in Paris in December 1989, has strong links to Fermanagh after he went to school at Portora Royal School in Enniskillen.
Dunbar has been a lifelong fan of Beckett and he has been centrally involved in the local Beckett Festival, which took place in Enniskillen up until 2022.
The Enniskillen man led the ‘Beckett: Confined’ celebration in the University of Liverpool in 2022. He’s looking forward to returning later this month.
“After lockdown, the confined theme worked so well for audiences and it also worked well for Beckett,” said Dunbar, who’s going to perform ‘All That Fall’ at the former Park Hill reservoir in Toxteth in Liverpool.
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