By Michael Watts
Direction Michael Kantor
With Russell Dykstra
Set and Costume Design Anna Cordingly
Lighting Design Niklas Pajanti
Composition and Sound Design Darrin Verhagen

Get ready to meet the most famous comedian you’ve never heard of: Walter
Walloon Beckett, all-singing, all-dancing humorist extraordinaire and the last of
the famous Beckett clan. And he’s a rabbit. Trapped on a hilltop in outback
Australia, in fear of an unseen assassin’s bullet, Walter reflects on his life and
his one true love, Boo Boo the bilby. In Michael Watts’ extraordinary feat of
sparse prose and killing humour, Not Like Beckett presents that most cunning
of metaphoric figures, the rabbit, as an allegory of colonised Australia.

Beneath the play’s bone dry wit and tough simplicity, dwells a tender and
unexpectedly touching tale of love and beauty as fierce and affecting as its
landscape.

Watts’ extraordinarily sustained and original homage to playwright Samuel
Beckett, appears almost effortless and was a natural directorial choice for the
theatrical invention of Malthouse Theatre’s Artistic Director, Michael Kantor.
This premiere production features the unforgettable talents of AFI Award
winning actor, Russell Dykstra, most recently seen as Donald Rumsfeld in
Neil Armfield’s production of Stuff Happens.