Samuel Beckett (1906–1989)
was born in Dublin, Ireland. He was educated at Portora Royal School and
Trinity College, Dublin, where he graduated in 1927. He made his poetry debut in 1930 with Whoroscope and followed it with essays and two novels before World War II. He wrote one of his most famous plays, Waiting for Godot, in
1949 but it wasn’t published in English until 1954. Waiting for Godot brought Beckett international fame and firmly established him as a leading figure in the Theater of the Absurd. He received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1969. He continued to write prolifically for radio, television, and the theater until his death in 1989.
Sean Barrett has won over twenty Earphones Awards and two prestigious Audie Awards for his audiobook narrations. He started acting professionally at the age of twelve and has since appeared on television and in film in Minder, Brush Strokes, War and Peace, Sons and Lovers, and Return to Oz. His stage credits include performing in the West End with Noël Coward in his Suite in Three Keys. He has worked extensively on BBC Radio and has also narrated several television series, including People’s Century and Crash.