Academy Award winner F. Murray Abraham (“Amadeus”) chatted about starring in the Off-Broadway show “Beckett Briefs.”
American track and field sprint icon Jesse Owens once said: “We all have dreams. But in order to make dreams come into reality, it takes an awful lot of determination, dedication, self-discipline, and effort.” This quote applies to F. Murray Abraham.
Directed by Ciarán O’Reilly, “Beckett Briefs” is a collection of three short plays by Samuel Beckett, and the show is being performed at the Irish Repertory Theatre in New York.
Aside from Abraham, the cast features Roger Dominic Casey, Kate Forbes, and Sarah Street. These three plays include “Not I,” “Play,” and “Krapp’s Last Tape.”
Abraham on his experience doing the play ‘Beckett Briefs’ at the Irish Repertory Theatre
“This show is an ongoing thing due to the complexity of it,” Abraham said. “That is what stands out about its really good writing. It never stops evolving. I think the other actors will say exactly the same thing.”
“One of the first things that the director, Ciarán O’Reilly, asked me is if I like bananas,” he said with a sweet laugh.
“I said ‘who doesn’t?’ and he told me ‘my daughter hates them.’ Can you imagine? It’s like not liking peanut butter. Anyhow, I like bananas and I am not tired of them either,” he added.
Working with the cast of actors of ‘Becket Briefs’
On working with the cast, he said, “Sarah Street is a treat. They are all such good people to get along with.”
“I’ve already worked with Kate Forbes. We did ‘The Merchant of Venice’ together. She played Portia to my Shylock. We did it at Stratford-upon-Avon in Shakespeare’s backyard, and we were a hit. Can you believe it? We showed the Brits how to do it,” he elaborated.
Lessons learned from ‘Beckett Briefs’
On the lessons learned from this play, Abraham remarked, “I am an old man. At this point in one’s life, you realize all those things that the old people that you’ve met say, those things all come true.”
Abraham continued, “What happens is… you are losing friends; they are dying, or they leave the business because they get tired. Anyhow, what you do is try to reflect, and that’s exactly what is going on in the play.”
“The most difficult thing about it is, simply, that if you are going to do any role properly, you really have to get it out of yourself,” he acknowledged. “You need to find within yourself what resonates with the character you are playing.”
“Consequently, I need to go back into my history of my own regrets, and I’ve been around for so long, to the point where I have a lot of regrets,” he noted.
“What can I tell you? What happens is you don’t consciously select these regrets, but they surface because of the play, and you begin to remember things that happened so many years ago that you thought you buried,” he explained.
“That is what makes this play such a difficult piece to do… to relieve some of those things that I did and went through,” he added.
‘The Magic Flute’ film
Abraham recalled doing the Shout! Studios movie “The Magic Flute” with Jack Wolfe.
“Doing ‘The Magic Flute’ was a really good experience because of where I was,” he admitted. “Salzburg, Austria, was great. It’s a terrific city. I was there during the COVID pandemic.”
“That town was a huge tourist attraction; not only because Mozart’s house is there but also, they did ‘The Sound of Music’ there. They shot that movie there a long time ago,” Abraham elaborated.
“As a result, it’s an enormous tourist attraction, and people love it. Usually, it’s a packed city but due to the COVID scare, the city was empty except for the locals and us making the movie. I was able to get guided tours there, so it was a great experience. Aside from that, ‘The Magic Flute’ was a great movie,” he explained.
“It was a pleasure working with Jack Wolfe. In fact, the whole thing was a good experience,” he reiterated.
“That doesn’t always happen but everyone in ‘The Magic Flute’ was nice. It was feel-good escapism, and everyone can use some of that these days,” he acknowledged.
Key to longevity in acting and entertainment
Regarding the key to longevity in the entertainment industry, he said, “First of all, it’s good luck… in our lives and not just in the entertainment business.”
“Also, take care of yourself, and you need to work out. I don’t drink any alcohol anymore; I quit not too long ago, and as a result, I lost some weight, and I am sleeping better,” he noted.
“You need to keep your mind active,” he underscored. “I’m speaking of the memory muscle. Actors need to continue learning lines on their own even if they are not working.”
“Find poetry that you like. I learned Sonnets, and I know at least 50 Shakespearean Sonnets. I know them, I go over them, and I enjoy them. They keep my memory active, and I also do my physical workouts (weights and stretches),” he elaborated.
“Also, most importantly, don’t quit,” he added.
Dialogue-heavy
When asked how he handles being dialogue-heavy (where he has to learn pages and pages of scripts), Abraham responded, “It all goes back to memory muscle. It’s my job; it’s what I do.”
“Those actors in the soap opera world are something… they really know what they are doing,” he said.
“I did a soap opera long time ago,” he recalled. “I did a live soap, that’s how far back I go.”
Advice for young and aspiring actors
For young and emerging actors, Abraham said, “Don’t be afraid… I need to keep saying that to myself!”
Career-defining moments
Regarding his career-defining moments, he shared, “From the moment I first stepped on the stage, I knew where I belonged. I don’t think I’m defined… I think I am continually changing. I try to define myself.”
‘Best Actor’ Oscar win for ‘Amadeus’
Abraham won the 1984 “Best Actor” Academy Award for his transformative acting performance as the nefarious Antonio Salieri in “Amadeus” opposite Tom Hulce as the title character.
The film won a total of eight Oscars, including “Best Picture,” “Best Director,” and “Best Adapted Screenplay,”
The synopsis is: The life, success and troubles of Wolfgang “Amadeus” Mozart, as told by Antonio Salieri (F. Murray Abraham), the contemporaneous composer who was deeply jealous of Mozart’s talent and claimed to have murdered him.
“That feeling is always great. It’s the best,” Abraham exclaimed. “The Oscar win is still working. That movie made my fortune, so it’s great. What can I say? Thank you, Oscar.”
“I liked my character, Antonio Salieri; he was a nice guy. People may say that the Oscar win is a curse, but if it’s a curse, they can curse me again, baby,” he said with a sweet laugh.
“My Oscar appears in every play I’ve ever done since I’ve won him. I give him to the stage manager — not for the audience to see him — Oscar is hidden from the actors, and they discover him on stage,” he elaborated.
“The wardrobe people make costumes for Oscar… he has a whole bunch of costumes; it is really funny,” he added.
Additional awards and recognition
Aside from his Academy Award win, Abraham also won a Golden Globe for “Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama” for “Amadeus,” and he scored a BAFTA nomination for “Amadeus,” as well as four Primetime Emmy nominations (including a 2023 Emmy nod for “Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series” for “The White Lotus”), and a Grammy nomination for “Best Spoken Word Album” for “Interview with the Vampire.”
Speaking of “The White Lotus,” Abraham played the role of the elderly yet outgoing grandfather Bert Di Grasso in Season 2.
Stage of his life
On the title of the current chapter of his life, he revealed, “Thank you, Ms. Hutchins.”
“My high school teacher introduced me to the theatre, so it would be a tribute to her,” he said. “Her name was Lucia P. Hutchins, and she changed my life. She was responsible for it all.”
Superpower of choice
If he were to have any superpower, it would be “the power to make peace all over the world.”
Success
On his definition of the word success, Abraham said, “Success makes life a lot easier. For years, I had to worry about paying the rent, but I don’t have to worry about that anymore.”
“I don’t have to worry about the next job. When you don’t worry about the next job, it seems like the next job always shows up,” he added.
Closing thoughts on Samuel Beckett and his work
“Samuel Beckett has to be the most important playwright of the 20th century,” Abraham said.
For fans and viewers, Abraham stated, “It’s hard to explain what this play does. It tests you completely. I love Shakespeare and I love the modern classics as well. ‘Krapp’s Last Tape’ was Beckett’s favorite play, by the way.”
“This show is very challenging,” he admitted. “While the play is not that long, it is so demanding, and I am always beat up at the end of it.”
“This show was a test that I was willing to put myself to, and when it ends, I look forward to saying ‘goodbye’ to it,” he concluded.
Steve Prefontaine once said: “To give anything less than your best, is to sacrifice the gift.” An individual who embodies this quotation in every aspect of his life is veteran actor F. Murray Abraham.
Read More: Review of “Beckett Briefs“
