Janusz Pyda OP: And so we have reached the last of the twelve plays discussed in this book – a one-act play called Catastrophe. This, too, like Ohio Impromptu, was written for a specific occasion. Perhaps you could start us off by explaining the circumstances.

Antoni Libera: In 1979 the communist authorities in Czechoslovakia arrested the well-known Czech playwright and dissident Václav Havel – one of the signatories of Charter 77 and the first president of free Czechoslovakia after the fall of Communism – and sentenced him to four years in prison. His arrest was widely reported and evoked protests throughout the world. They had, however, little effect. After about a year, sometime around the end of 1980 or the beginning of 1981, the directors of the Avignon theatre festival decided on a gesture to express their solidarity with the Czech writer: for the next festival, which was to take place in July 1981, they planned a ‘Czech Day’; the evening was to be dedicated to Havel. Various distinguished figures from the world of theatre were invited to ensure maximum resonance and publicity. Beckett was one of them. He wasn't familiar with Havel's work but he had heard of him and had tremendous respect for his political stand and his dignity in the face of persecution. To the astonishment of the organizers, he sent in his contribution to the evening, in the form of this play, quite quickly, and moreover dedicated it to Havel – a rare gesture on his part, usually limited to people he had worked with or had cause to be grateful to. The premiere took place on 21 July 1981.

J. P.: Which is probably why the play was regarded, at least initially, as a political work, even as a political act – an attempt to intervene. This was the near-universal view: here was Beckett, regarded hitherto as an entirely apolitical writer whose work never concerned itself with current affairs of any kind, social or political, or even with the broader topic of human suffering, injustice, persecution and so on, suddenly, in his old age, taking up a cause and writing a play in defence of Václav Havel when he was being persecuted by a communist regime.