Rockaby (1981) Plot Summary Explained

Release, runtime and language

1981 · 57 mins · English

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Directed by

Alan Schneider

Starring

Billie Whitelaw

A one‑woman play Samuel Beckett wrote for Daniel Labeille, produced by the State University of New York’s Programs in the Arts as part of a festival honoring Beckett’s 75th birthday. The self‑reflective drama follows a woman, W, who rocks “to and fro” in her dead mother’s chair, dressed in her mother’s sequined funeral gown. Using a pre‑recorded voice, W revisits phases of a single memory, seeking connection with “another creature like herself” before the rocking leads her into an eternal sleep.