In Not I we see nothing but a black-rimmed mouth emitting a ceaseless flood of words. Overwhelmed by the speed of the memories and the urgency of the need to speak, the protagonist, played by Billie Whitelaw, relates episodes of a life full of deprivation. Samuel Beckett wrote Not I in 1972 and a year later the play premiered at the Royal Court Theatre in London. The film version made by the BBC in 1977, co-directed by Anthony Page, was rebroadcast by German Süddeutscher Rundfunk (SDR), which between 1966 and 1986 also commissioned Beckett with several television productions. A masterpiece of public television drama, the high cultural and educational standards of which came to an end with the rise of private stations.
