The Complete Lost Works of Samuel Beckett, Lighthouse, Poole

BOASTING what is claimed to be the longest title of any theatrical production - The Complete Lost Works of Samuel Beckett as found in an envelope (partially burned) in a dustbin in Paris labelled 'Never to be performed. Never. Ever. EVER! Or I'll sue! I'LL SUE FROM THE GRAVE!!!' - this American show mercilessly takes the rise out of Beckett in all his guises and also his famously litigious estate.

A full house, presumably of Beckett aficionados and enthusiastic drama students, cheered and occasionally groaned their appreciation as three performers displayed new texts or fragments of juvenilia strangely reminiscent of Not I, Footfalls and Endgame.

With a format similar to the Reduced Shakespeare Company - another American send-up of the pretentious and over-precious - the leading exponent of the theatre of the absurd was fabulously debunked.

But somewhere behind all the laughter there lay an acknowledgment, an appreciation of Beckett as a true master of immeasurable influence.

I'll bet I'm not the only member of the audience to have hugged myself with delight and then felt the need to go back to the originals.

Producers, please note.