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{{About|the Samuel Beckett play|the Beargarden album|All That Fall (album)}}

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{{Infobox play
| name       = All That Fall
| image      = All That Fall.jpg
| alt        = 
| caption    = ''All That Fall: A Play for Radio'', London: Faber and Faber, 1957
| writer     = [[Samuel Beckett]]
| chorus     = 
| characters = Maddy Rooney
| mute       = 
| setting    = Country road, railway station
| premiere   = 1957
| place      = 
| orig_lang  = [[English language|English]]
| series     = 
| subject    = 
| genre      = Radio play
| web        = 
}}

'''''All That Fall''''' is a one-act radio play by [[Samuel Beckett]] produced following a request<ref>It has been reported that Beckett wrote this play following a ''[[Contract|commission]]'' from the BBC. This is not correct. [[Hugh Kenner]] advises that Beckett had written only some of his works at the suggestion of others and that these did not figure among his very best. Kenner remarks, "But suggestions – not commissions, since he will not regard an arrangement as binding until he has in fact been able to execute the work – suggestions, then, have led him into adventures with several media he would likely not otherwise have explored." – Kenner, H., ''A Reader’s Guide to Samuel Beckett'', (London: Thames and Hudson Ltd, 1973), p 159</ref> from the [[BBC]]. It was written in English and completed in September 1956. The autograph copy is titled '''''Lovely Day for the Races'''''. It was published in French, in a translation by [[Robert Pinget]] revised by Beckett himself,<ref>Samuel Beckett, Georges Craig (editor), The Letters of Samuel Beckett. Volume 3; 1957–1965, (Cambridge University Press, 2014), letter from Beckett to Christian Lugdivsen, 6 August 1957.</ref> as '''''Tous ceux qui tombent'''''.

When the germ of ''All that Fall'' came to him, Beckett wrote to a friend, [[Nancy Cunard]]:

: "Never thought about radio play technique but in the dead of t’other night got a nice gruesome idea full of cartwheels and dragging of feet and puffing and panting which may or may not lead to something."<ref>Letter to Nancy Cunard, 5 June 1956. Quoted in Knowlson, J., ‘'Damned to Fame: The Life of Samuel Beckett'’ (London: Bloomsbury, 1996),:p 428</ref>

Although the play was written quickly and with few redrafts, the subject matter was deeply personal, causing Beckett to sink into what he called "a whirl of [[depression (mood)|depression]]"<ref>Samuel Beckett to Barney Rosset, 23 August 1956. Quoted in Knowlson, J., ‘'Damned to Fame: The Life of Samuel Beckett'’ (London: Bloomsbury, 1996), p 430</ref> when he wrote to his US publisher [[Barney Rosset]] in August. In fact, in September "he cancelled all his appointments in [[Paris]] for a week simply because he felt wholly incapable of facing people",<ref>Knowlson, J., ‘'Damned to Fame: The Life of Samuel Beckett'’ (London: Bloomsbury, 1996), pp 430,431</ref> and worked on the script until its completion.

It was first broadcast on the [[BBC Third Programme]] on 13 January 1957, featuring Mary O'Farrell as Maddy Rooney with [[J. G. Devlin]] as her husband, Dan. Soon-to-be Beckett regulars, [[Patrick Magee (actor)|Patrick Magee]] and [[Jack MacGowran]] also had small parts. The producer was [[Donald McWhinnie]].

==Synopsis==
===The trip there===
It is the first work by Beckett in which a woman is the central character. In this case it is a gritty, "overwhelmingly capacious",<ref>Worth, K., 'Women in Beckett’s Radio and Television Plays' in Ben-Zvi, L., (Ed.) ''Women in Beckett: Performance and Critical Perspectives'' (Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1992), p 236</ref> outspoken, [[Irish people|Irish]] septuagenarian, Maddy Rooney, plagued by "[[rheumatism]] and [[childlessness]]".<ref>Beckett, S., ''Collected Shorter Plays of Samuel Beckett'' (London: Faber and Faber, 1984), p 24</ref> "Beckett emphasised to [[Billie Whitelaw]] that Maddy had an [[Irish language|Irish]] [[accent (dialect)|accent]]:

: 'I said, "Like yours," and he said, "No, no, no, an Irish accent." I realised he didn't know he had an Irish accent, and that was the music he heard in his head.'"<ref>Gussow, M., 'An Immediate Bonding With Beckett: An Actress's Memoirs' in ''[[The New York Times]]'', 24 April 1996</ref>

The opening scene finds Maddy trudging down a country road towards the station called "Boghill".<ref>"Beckett probably named the station Boghill because of the proximity to a bogfield known locally as 'the [[bog]]’ lying between the chemist’s shop and Hainault Street." – O’Brien, E., ''The Beckett Country'' (Dublin: The Black Cat Press, 1986), p 350 n 48</ref> It's her husband's birthday. She has already given him a tie but decides to surprise him by meeting him off the 12:30 train. It is a fine June morning and must be a Saturday, since her husband is leaving his office at noon rather than five. In the distance the sounds of [[rural]] animals are heard.

She moves with difficulty. She hears [[chamber music]] coming from an old house, [[Franz Schubert|Schubert's]] "[[Death and the Maiden Quartet (Schubert)|Death and the Maiden]]".<ref>The text only mentions ''Death and the Maiden'', the title of a [[lied]] by Schubert, (See ''[[Death and the Maiden (song)|Death and the Maiden]]'') the melody of which forms the basis for the second movement of his ''String Quartet No.14'', D810. In the first BBC recording it is the string quartet which is heard ''not'' the original lied.</ref> She stops, listens to the recording, and even murmurs along with it before proceeding.

The first of her three encounters with men is meeting the [[Manure#Uses of manure|dung]] carrier, Christy, who tries to sell her a "small load of … stydung".<ref>Beckett, S., ‘'Collected Shorter Plays of Samuel Beckett'’ (London: Faber and Faber, 1984), p 12</ref> She tells him she will consult her husband. The man's cart is being pulled by a "[[horse-fly|cleg]]-tormented" [[hinny]], which shows some reluctance to move on and needs to be whipped. As she heads off, Maddy's thoughts return to "Minnie! Little Minnie!"<ref name="Beckett, S., 1984 p 13">Beckett, S., ‘'Collected Shorter Plays of Samuel Beckett'’ (London: Faber and Faber, 1984), p 13</ref>

The smell of [[laburnum]]<ref>The laburnum tree (''Laburnum anagyroides'') is a tree which, in myth and legend, is associated with [[Aphrodite]]: and was an important symbol of the powerful Love Goddess and of love and security for the poet [[Sylvia Plath]]. She associated it with her beloved father, calling it "my father's bean tree" (''[[Maenad]]'', ''Sylvia Plath, Collected Poems'', p 133 [https://www.angelfire.com/tn/plath/maenad.html]); and, in ''The Beekeeper's Daughter'' (''Sylvia Plath, Collected Poems'', p 118 [http://blue.carisenda.com/archives/sylvia_plath/the_beekeepers_daughter.html] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061012040153/http://blue.carisenda.com/archives/sylvia_plath/the_beekeepers_daughter.html|date=12 October 2006}}), she captured the sensuous, sensual beauty of this "Golden Rain Tree" which, as a bringer of life and death, exhibits (she wrote admiringly) "a queenship no mother can contest". That also clarifies Maddy's comment on the way home about "golden drizzle" (Beckett, S., ‘'Collected Shorter Plays of Samuel Beckett'’ (London: Faber and Faber, 1984), p 36).</ref> distracts her. Suddenly, old Mr Tyler is upon her, ringing his cycle bell. Whilst relating how his daughter's operation has rendered her unable to bear children, they are almost knocked down by Connolly's van, which covers them "white with dust from head to foot".<ref name="Beckett, S., 1984 p 13"/> Maddy again bemoans the loss of Minnie but refuses to be comforted by Tyler, who rides off, despite realising that his rear tyre is flat.

Lastly an "old admirer",<ref>Beckett, S., ‘'Collected Shorter Plays of Samuel Beckett'’ (London: Faber and Faber, 1984), p 17</ref> Mr Slocum, a racecourse clerk, pulls up in his "limousine"<ref>A limousine is also a type of [[carriage]] corresponding with the railway carriage her husband is in.</ref> to offer her a ride. She is too fat and awkward to climb in alone so Slocum pushes her in from behind. While doing so, her frock gets caught in the door. He tries to start the car but it has died. After applying the [[choke valve#Automotive|choke]] he does manage to get going and, no sooner has he done so, he runs over and kills a hen, which Maddy feels the need to [[eulogy|eulogise]].

At each stage of the journey, the technology she encounters advances but, despite that, each means of locomotion is beset by problems, foreshadowing the problem with the train: she finds walking difficult and is forced to sit down, Christy needs to whip his hinny to make her go, Tyler's tyre goes flat, and Slocum's engine dies. All the relatives mentioned in that section are female and all the modes of transport are also referred to as females.

===The station===
At the station, Slocum calls on the [[porter (railroad)|porter]], Tommy, for assistance to extricate his passenger, after which he drives away, "crucifying his gearbox."<ref>Beckett, S., ‘'Collected Shorter Plays of Samuel Beckett'’ (London: Faber and Faber, 1984), p 20</ref>

Beckett told Billie Whitelaw that Maddy "is in a state of abortive explosiveness".<ref>Oppenheim, L., (Ed.) ''Directing Beckett'', (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1994), p 196. In her interview with Linda Ben-Zvi, Whitelaw says Beckett used the expression "explosive [[constipation]]" which she explained she took to mean, "She’s terribly constipated; she has all these feelings, and wants to explode, to release them, but she can’t. She just tries to hang on in there." – Ben-Zvi, L., (Ed.) ''Women in Beckett: Performance and Critical Perspectives'' (Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1992), p 7</ref> That becomes apparent when she considers herself ignored. To the boy, Tommy, she says abrasively: "Don’t mind me. Don’t take any notice of me. I do not exist. The fact is well known."<ref>Beckett, S., ‘'Collected Shorter Plays of Samuel Beckett'’ (London: Faber and Faber, 1984), p 19</ref> As Ruby Cohn quips, "she endures volubly."<ref>Cohn, R., 'The [[Femme fatale|Femme Fatale]] on Beckett’s Stage' in Ben-Zvi, L., (Ed.) ''Women in Beckett: Performance and Critical Perspectives'' (Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1992), 1990 p 165</ref>

The stationmaster, Mr Barrell, asks after Mrs Rooney's health. She confesses that she should really still be in bed. We hear of the demise of Mr Barrell's father, who died shortly after retiring, a tale that reminds Maddy again of her own woes. She notes that the weather has taken a change for the worse, with the wind picking up and rain due.

Miss Fitt approaches, so immersed in humming a [[hymn]] she doesn't see Maddy at first. As her name indicates, Miss Fitt is a self-righteous misfit. After some discussion, she condescends to help the old woman up the stairs to the [[Railway platform|platform]], primarily because "it is the [[Protestantism|Protestant]] thing to do."<ref name="Beckett 1984 p 23">Beckett, S., ‘'Collected Shorter Plays of Samuel Beckett'’ (London: Faber and Faber, 1984), p 23</ref>

Unusually, the train is late. The noise of the station becomes louder but the first arrival is an anticlimax, because it is the oft-mentioned "up mail". Dan's train comes in moments afterwards. Maddy panics. She can't find her husband because he has been led to the [[toilet|gents]] by Jerry,<ref>The two boys in the railway station call to mind [[Tom and Jerry]].</ref> the boy who normally helps him to the taxi. Tight-fisted Dan chides her for not cancelling Jerry but still pays his [[British one penny coin (pre-decimal)|penny]] fee. He refuses, however, to discuss the reason for the train's lateness. Not without some difficulty – her husband is also not a well man – they descend the stairs and begin the trek home.

On her journey to the station, Maddy only had to compete with one person at a time, each an old man. Now she is faced with a crowd. Rather than the flat open countryside, she has to contend with a mountainous climb, referring to the stairs as a "[[cliff]]". Her husband calls them a "precipice" and Miss Fitt compares them to the "[[Matterhorn]]", a mountain that for years inspired fear in climbers. Also, the means of transport that are mentioned, the [[RMS Titanic|Titanic]], the [[RMS Lusitania|Lusitania]] and the train, are modes of mass transport, and the level of danger shifts from the inconvenient to the potentially lethal. All the relatives mentioned in that segment are now male.

===The walk home===

The weather is worsening. The thought of getting home spurs them on. Dan imagines sitting by the fire in his dressing gown with his wife reading aloud from ''[[Effi Briest]]''.<ref>Beckett read this with Peggy Sinclair, his first love, who died of [[tuberculosis]] in 1933. The novel also makes a key appearance in ''[[Krapp's Last Tape|Krapp’s Last Tape]]''.</ref> The Lynch twins jeer at them from a distance. Dan shakes his stick and chases them off. Previously, the twins have pelted the old couple with mud. "Did you ever wish to kill a child?"<ref name="Beckett 1984 p31">Beckett, S., ‘'Collected Shorter Plays of Samuel Beckett'’ (London: Faber and Faber, 1984), p 31</ref> Dan asks her, then admits to having to resist the impulse within himself. That makes his comment shortly after, about being alone in his compartment — "I made no attempt to restrain myself"<ref name="Beckett 1984 p32">Beckett, S., ‘'Collected Shorter Plays of Samuel Beckett'’ (London: Faber and Faber, 1984), p 32</ref> — all the more suspicious. It also focuses attention on his remarks about the pros and cons of retirement: one of the negatives he brings up has to do with enduring their neighbour's children.

Dan is as laconic as Maddy is loquacious. His refusal to explain why the train was delayed forces her to pester him with questions, which he does his best to avoid answering. He prevaricates and digresses — anything to throw her off track. Eventually he maintains that he honestly has no clue what the cause was. Being blind and on his own he had simply assumed the train had stopped at a station.

Something Dan says reminds Maddy of a visit she once made to hear "a lecture by one of these new mind doctors.<ref>Beckett, S., ‘'Collected Shorter Plays of Samuel Beckett'’ (London: Faber and Faber, 1984), p 35</ref> What she heard there was the story of a patient the doctor had failed to cure, a young girl who was dying, and "did in fact die, shortly after he had washed his hands of her."<ref>Beckett, S., ‘'Collected Shorter Plays of Samuel Beckett'’ (London: Faber and Faber, 1984), p 36</ref> The reason the doctor gave for the girl's death, as if the revelation had just come to him there and then, was: "The trouble with her was that she had never really been born!"<ref>"The [[anecdote]] is directly attributable to [[Carl Jung|Jung’s]] Third Tavistock Lecture (1935). During the discussion period Jung commented on the case of a little girl who had, he said, 'the most amazing [[Mythology|mythological]] dreams.... The little girl died a year later of an [[infectious disease]]. She had never been born entirely.' – Jung, C. G., Lecture III, ''Symbolic Life'', p 96</ref>

As they near the house Maddy passed earlier, Schubert's music is still playing and Dan starts to cry. To stop her asking questions, he asks Maddy about the text of Sunday's [[sermon]]. "The Lord upholdeth all that fall and raiseth up all those that be bowed down",<ref>Psalms 145:14 ([[King James Version of the Bible|King James Version]]). Quoted in Beckett, S., ‘'Collected Shorter Plays of Samuel Beckett'’ (London: Faber and Faber, 1984), p 38</ref> she tells him, and then they both burst out laughing. Mr Slocum and Miss Fitt had both passed comment on Maddy's bent posture. Perhaps, that is partly why they laugh: it is the best reaction to a life of unending misery in a world devoid of any God. In ''[[Happy Days (play)|Happy Days]]'', Winnie asks "How can one better magnify the Almighty than by sniggering with him at his little jokes, particularly the poorer ones".<ref>Samuel, S., ''The Complete Dramatic Works'' (London: Faber and Faber, 1990), p 159</ref> It is worthy of mention that "it is Mr Tyler, rather than the Lord, who saved the preacher’s life when they were climbing together".<ref>Pountney, R., ''Theatre of Shadows: Samuel Beckett’s Drama'' 1956–1976 (Gerrards Cross: Colin Smythe, 1988), p 104</ref> It would be fair to assume that Maddy doesn’t really believe in a god any more, after she says, "We are alone. There is no one to ask." She is certainly not talking about there being no one to ask about her husband's age.<ref name="Beckett 1984 p32"/>

Jerry catches them up to return something Mr Rooney has dropped. Learning that it is some kind of ball, he demands the boy hand it to him. When pressed by his wife, all he will say is that: "It is a thing I carry about with me",<ref name="Beckett 1984 p38">Beckett, S., ‘'Collected Shorter Plays of Samuel Beckett'’ (London: Faber and Faber, 1984), p 38</ref> and becomes angry when pressed on the subject. They have no small change so promise to give Jerry a penny on Monday to compensate him for his trouble.

Just as the boy starts back, Maddy calls him to see if he has learned what delayed the train. He has, but Dan doesn't want to know: "Leave the boy alone, he knows nothing! Come on!".<ref name="Beckett 1984 p39">Beckett, S., ‘'Collected Shorter Plays of Samuel Beckett'’ (London: Faber and Faber, 1984), p 39</ref> However, his wife insists. Jerry tells her that it was a child, at which point her husband groans. When pushed for details the boy goes on: "It was a little child fell out of the carriage, Ma’am … Onto the line, Ma’am … Under the wheels, Ma’am."<ref name="Beckett 1984 p39"/> We assume the child is a girl – all the [[foreshadowing]] in the play has been pointing to that – but, crucially, Beckett never actually says. (See his comment to [[Kay Boyle]] below however).

With that, Jerry exits. We hear his steps die away and the couple head off in silence. Maddy must realise the death happened while she was making her way to the station but she is, for once, speechless. All we are left with is the wind and the rain, and the question what, if anything, Mr Rooney had to do with the death of the child.

The third section of the play returns Maddy to the relative calm of the walk home. They encounter a further three people, only this time they are all children. The laburnum also serves as an important [[wikt:benchmark|benchmark]]. In the opening scene Maddy admires it but now its condition has deteriorated. The weather has also continued to worsen until, at the end, they are in the middle of a "''[t]empest of wind and rain''".<ref name="Beckett 1984 p39"/> The actor David Warrilow relates: "When I saw Beckett in January, one of the first things he said was: 'What do you think of ''All That Fall''?’... [Later I asked him the same question.] And he looked down and said, 'Well, a number of weaknesses'. [I asked:] 'Do you mean the production?’ He said, 'No, no, no. The writing.'... 'What I really was waiting for was the rain at the end.'"<ref>David Warrilow, in Kalb, J., ''Beckett in Performance'' (London: Cambridge University Press, 1989), p 233</ref>

In 1961, Kay Boyle asked Beckett if, at the end of ''Happy Days'', Willie is reaching for the gun, or for his wife. Beckett replied:

: "The question as to which Willie is 'after' – Winnie or the [[revolver]] – is like the question in ''All That Fall'' as to whether Mr Rooney threw the little girl<ref>In an earlier draft, Beckett has Rooney say: "I should like to kill a child before I die. A little girl." – [[Holograph]] held at the Humanities Research Center of the University of Texas, Austin. Quoted in Pountney, R., ''Theatre of Shadows: Samuel Beckett’s Drama'' 1956–1976 (Gerrards Cross: Colin Smythe, 1988), p 105</ref> out of the railway-carriage or not. And the answer is the same in both cases – we don’t know, at least I don’t … I know creatures are supposed to have no secrets for their authors, but I’m afraid mine for me have little else."<ref>Samuel Beckett to Kay Boyle, 7 October 1961. Quoted in Knowlson, J., ‘'Damned to Fame: The Life of Samuel Beckett'’ (London: Bloomsbury, 1996), p 485</ref>

==Biographical details==
When writing in French, Beckett stripped his text of biographical detail in an attempt to universalise his characters. With his return to English, he also returned to the [[Dublin]] [[suburb]] of [[Foxrock]] for the radio play. Apart from many uses of common Irish words and phrases, Beckett pulls names, characters and locations from his childhood to deliver a realistic setting for the drama, which is still presented in a manner almost everyone can relate to.

# Beckett’s mother shopped at Connolly’s Stores in [[Cornelscourt]] and her purchases were delivered by [[van]] as was customary at the time.<ref>O’Brien, E., ''The Beckett Country'' (Dublin: The Black Cat Press, 1986), p 22</ref> 
# Maddy’s journey is from "Brighton Road to [[Foxrock railway station|Foxrock station]]" (called Boghill station in the play) and back again.<ref>Samuel Beckett to Aiden Higgins, 6 July 1956. Quoted in Knowlson, J., ‘'Damned to Fame: The Life of Samuel Beckett'’ (London: Bloomsbury, 1996), p 428</ref>
# James Knowlson claims that Maddy was actually inspired by Beckett's [[kindergarten]] teacher Ida "Jack" Elsner.<ref name="Beckett 1984 p429">Knowlson, J., ‘'Damned to Fame: The Life of Samuel Beckett'’ (London: Bloomsbury, 1996), p 429</ref> In her later years, when she had trouble riding her bicycle, she was known to fall off and be found "sprawling by the roadside until such a time as a passer-by [might come] along to help her up"<ref>Knowlson, J., ‘'Damned to Fame: The Life of Samuel Beckett'’ (London: Bloomsbury, 1996), p 26</ref> in a state similar to Maddy after leaving Christy.
# "The Becketts employed a [[gardener]] called Christy."<ref name="Beckett 1984 p428">Knowlson, J., ‘'Damned to Fame: The Life of Samuel Beckett'’ (London: Bloomsbury, 1996), p 428</ref>
# Beckett bought apples from a [[Market gardening|market-gardener]] named Watt Tyler on his walk home from school.<ref name="Beckett 1984 p428"/> The Tylers and Becketts also shared a [[pew]] at Tullow Church, the church referred to in the text.<ref>Knowlson, J., ‘'Damned to Fame: The Life of Samuel Beckett'’ (London: Bloomsbury, 1996), p 24</ref>
# Slocum was the surname of his cousin John Beckett's future wife, Vera.<ref name="Beckett 1984 p429"/>
# Mr Tully was a local [[dairy]]man.<ref>Cronin, A., ''Samuel Beckett The Last Modernist'' (London: Flamingo, 1997), p 25</ref>
# Dunne, Maddy's [[maiden name]], was the local butcher on Bray Road.<ref>Knowlson, J., ‘'Damned to Fame: The Life of Samuel Beckett'’ (London: Bloomsbury, 1996), p 429. Ruby Cohn has pointed out that the name Maddy Dunne Rooney may also be a series of puns that trace the theme of decay in the work meaning "mad," "done," and "ruin." – Cohn, R., ''Back to Beckett'' (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1973), p 161</ref>
# Miss Fitt's name, aside from being a wonderful pun, may have been inspired by a classmate of Beckett's at Portora School named E.G. Fitt or a [[Rathgar]] lady resident.<ref>Knowlson, J., ‘'Damned to Fame: The Life of Samuel Beckett'’ (London: Bloomsbury, 1996), pp 428,429</ref>
# The [[Race track|racecourse]] is [[Leopardstown Racecourse]].<ref>O’Brien, E., ''The Beckett Country'' (Dublin: The Black Cat Press, 1986), p 31</ref>
# Mr Barrell's name is a nod to Thomas Farrell, "the [http://www.thefreedictionary.com/persnickety persnickety] railroad [[station master|stationmaster]] in the Foxrock of his youth"<ref>Cullen, K., 'Much Ado about Beckett' in ''The Boston Globe'', 12 March 2006</ref> who often took first prize for the "best-kept"<ref name="Beckett 1984 p26">Beckett, S., ‘'Collected Shorter Plays of Samuel Beckett'’ (London: Faber and Faber, 1984), p 26</ref> station on the line. 
# When Maddy mentions that the preacher for Sunday is to be Hardy, Dan wonders if this is the author of "''How to be Happy though Married?''"<ref name="Beckett 1984 p38"/> "There was in Foxrock, in Kerrymount Avenue, a Rev E. Hardy, not to be confused with Edward John Hardy, the author"<ref>Ackerley, C. J. and Gontarski, S. E., (Eds.) ''The Faber Companion to Samuel Beckett'', (London: Faber and Faber, 2006), p 246</ref> of the aforementioned book.
Of course, "[t]he events in Beckett's life leave their traces in the shape of his work, without necessarily leaving an inventory in its content."<ref>McDonald, R., ''The Cambridge Introduction to Samuel Beckett'' (Cambridge University Press, 2007), p 6</ref>

==Interpretation==

{{mono|Q: "[[Why did the chicken cross the road?]]"<br />
A: "To get to the other side."}}

{{mono|MRS ROONEY: It is suicide to be abroad.}}

"''All That Fall'' manages to develop a highly dynamic [[genre]] in radio drama through a multi-layered script, which can be read as [[tragicomedy]], a [[Crime fiction|murder mystery]],<ref>Is Maddy’s reference to Tyler "stealing up behind [her] like a [[deerstalker]]" a nod to [[Sherlock Holmes]]'s famous hat?</ref> a cryptic literary [[riddle]] or a quasi-musical score."<ref>Branigan, K., ‘''All That Fall'': How Samuel Beckett Enhanced Radio Drama Through Musical Structure' in  ''[http://www.nuim.ie/publications/research/research_record_2003.pdf National University of Ireland, Maynooth, Postgraduate Research Record, 2003] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061002040220/http://www.nuim.ie/publications/research/research_record_2003.pdf |date=2 October 2006 }}'', p 26</ref>

===Death===
# Schubert's ''Death and the Maiden'' is heard at the start and near the end of the drama, setting the theme from the outset.
# All parts of the [[laburnum]] are poisonous; "children should be warned never to touch the black seeds contained within the pods as they contain an [[alkaloid]] [[poison]]."<ref>''Can our Laburnum tree poison our son?'' [http://www.netdoctor.co.uk/ate/childrenshealth/202775.html netdoctor.co.uk], 24 April 2006</ref>  
# Maddy's daughter, Minnie, appears to have died as a child. [[Vivian Mercier]] goes so far as to suppose that the child may only ever have existed in Maddy's imagination<ref>Mercier, V., ''Beckett/Beckett'' (London: Souvenir Press, 1990)', p 205</ref> a view supported by Rosemary Pountney.<ref>Pountney, R., ''Theatre of Shadows: Samuel Beckett’s Drama'' 1956–1976 (Gerrards Cross: Colin Smythe, 1988), p 106</ref>
# Maddy tells Tyler: "It is suicide to be abroad."<ref name="Beckett 1984 p15">Beckett, S., ‘'Collected Shorter Plays of Samuel Beckett'’ (London: Faber and Faber, 1984), p 15</ref> The pun is often commented on (i.e. a broad). The alternative would be to remain [[fetus|fœtus]]-like in the [[Uterus|womb]] of the home. "The [[topography]] in ''All That Fall'' is distinctly hostile to the females – human or animal – who try to walk through it. Maddy’s comment 'It is suicide to be a broad' suggests that her death will be her own fault, namely the fault of being born a woman."<ref>Bryant-Bertail, S., ‘[http://www.tau.ac.il/arts/publications/ASSAPHTH11/BERTAIL.html The True-Real Woman: Maddy Rooney as Picara in All That Fall] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061231002538/http://www.tau.ac.il/arts/publications/ASSAPHTH11/BERTAIL.html |date=31 December 2006 }}’ in Assaph C., (Ed.) ''Studies in the Theatre'', No 11</ref>
# When she arrives at the station Maddy describes herself in such a way as to conjure up the image of a corpse being [[shroud]]ed for burial. 
# She recalls the lecture where the doctor spoke about a young girl who died.
# Slocum’s car dies and is started again only with difficulty. 
# No sooner having done so it runs over a chicken crossing the road, killing it.
# Barrell’s father died a short time after his son took over as stationmaster.
# When the train arrives – but before she meets her husband Maddy – remarks that Mr Barrell looks as if he has seen a [[ghost]].
# Her husband comments that she is "struggling with a dead language".<ref name="Beckett 1984 p34">Beckett, S., ‘'Collected Shorter Plays of Samuel Beckett'’ (London: Faber and Faber, 1984), p 34</ref> 
# Jerry returns "a kind of ball"<ref name="Beckett 1984 p38"/> to Mr Rooney. Although not an obvious symbol of death, this ball is a significant motif of [[Grief#Childhood bereavement|childhood grief]] for Beckett.<ref>When Krapp’s mother died, he was throwing a ball for a little white dog, and will feel it forever: "But I gave it away to the dog." (Beckett, S., ‘'Collected Shorter Plays of Samuel Beckett'’ (London: Faber and Faber, 1984), p 60) In ''All Strange Away'' a "small grey punctured rubber ball" (Beckett, S., 'All Strange Away' in ''Beckett Short No 3'' (London: Calder Publication [1976] 1999), p 33) is the last object to be contemplated before Fancy dies.</ref>
# Miss Fitt believes she not really of this world and left to herself "would soon be flown … home."<ref name="Beckett 1984 p 23"/> "I suppose the truth is, "she tells Mrs Rooney, "I am not there … just not really there at all."<ref>Beckett, S., ‘'Collected Shorter Plays of Samuel Beckett'’ (London: Faber and Faber, 1984), pp 22,23</ref> (See ''[[Footfalls#Part IV|Footfalls]]'').
# As she assists Maddy up the stairs she begins to hum the hymn, ''[http://www.encyclopedia-titanica.org/lead_kindly.html Lead, Kindly Light]'', which is one of the tunes reportedly played as the ''Titanic'' was sinking. 
# The sinking of the [[RMS Lusitania#Sinking|Lusitania]] is mentioned; 1,198 people died with her, including almost a hundred children.
# Tyler thinks that Miss Fitt has lost her mother (as in death) but it turns out that she simply cannot find her because the train is late; thus, since the mother is bringing fresh [[Sole (fish)|sole]] ([[Soul (spirit)|soul]]), there is still hope that the mother is not lost.
# A female voice warns young Dolly not to stand close because "one can be sucked under."<ref name="Beckett 1984 p25">Beckett, S., ‘'Collected Shorter Plays of Samuel Beckett'’ (London: Faber and Faber, 1984), p 25</ref> 
# On their way home Dan asks his wife if she's ever contemplated killing a child. 
# He refers to his time at work as being "buried alive … not even [[Death certificate|certified death]] can ever take the place of that".<ref name="Beckett 1984 p34"/> Dan's workplace is at the [[Train station#Terminus|terminus]], the end of the line (pun intended), and, with its "'rest-couch and velvet hangings', the office seems womblike, but a "wombtomb",<ref>Beckett. S., ''[[Dream of Fair to Middling Women]]'' (Dublin: The Black Cat Press, 1992), p. 45</ref> a womb after life rather than before."<ref>Lawley, P., 'The Difficult Birth: An Image of Utterance in Beckett' in Davis, R. J. and Butler, L. St J., (Eds.) '''Make Sense Who May': Essays on Samuel Beckett’s Later Works'' (Gerrards Cross: Colin Smythe, 1988), p 7</ref>
# Dan thinks he can smell a dead dog in a ditch but is told its only rotting leaves despite the fact that it's only Summer.
# He also alludes to Matthew 10:29 about the death of [[Old World sparrow|sparrow]]s.<ref>Matthew 10:29 (King James Version) – "Are not two sparrows sold for a [[British farthing coin|farthing]]? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father." (In some translations the coin is a penny).</ref>
# The play ends, of course, with the revelation that the train was late due to the death of a young child under its wheels.
# At one point Maddy – who thinks she is still talking to the stationmaster – says: "Then at evening the clouds will part, the setting sun will shine an instant, then sink, behind the hills."<ref>Beckett, S., ‘'Collected Shorter Plays of Samuel Beckett'’ (London: Faber and Faber, 1984), p 21</ref> This phrase evokes the famous description of the birth astride a grave from ''[[Waiting for Godot]]'' reminding us that the best of life only lasts an instant before darkness consumes it once more. Beckett emphasises this in ''All That Fall'' by making all the characters either young or old, focusing on the beginnings and end of life; the rest is of little consequence. 
# Another Beckettian [[leitmotif]] is underlined by a seemingly innocuous remark made by Maddy when other characters take control of the conversation for a moment: "Do not imagine, because I am silent, that I am not present."<ref name="Beckett 1984 p25"/> In radio a character only 'exists' for as long as we can hear him or her. This reminds us of the many Beckett characters that feel compelled to keep talking to prove they exist.

===Sickness===

# Maddy is [[Obesity|obese]], suffers from rheumatism, "heart and kidney trouble"<ref>Beckett, S., ‘'Collected Shorter Plays of Samuel Beckett'’ (London: Faber and Faber, 1984), p 27</ref> and has been bed-ridden for some time. On the return journey she twice mentions feeling cold, weak, and faint. 
# When Maddy asks about his "poor"<ref>Maddy uses the same [[adjective]], 'poor', with the succession of daughter, wife, and mother when speaking with each of the men she meets on the road to the station.</ref> wife Christy replies that she is "no better." Nor is his daughter.
# Tyler's only optimistic comments are made about the weather. He says, "Ah in spite of all it is a blessed thing to be alive in such weather, and out of hospital."<ref>Beckett, S., ‘'Collected Shorter Plays of Samuel Beckett'’ (London: Faber and Faber, 1984), pp 15,16</ref> This could be taken to mean he has just come out of hospital – he refers to himself being "half alive" – though it could equally refer to his daughter's recent surgery. 
# Slocum's mother is "fairly comfortable" and he's managing to keep her out of pain.
# Dan is blind, suffers from an old wound and has a heart condition.
# Mrs Tully's "husband is in constant pain and beats her unmercifully."<ref>Beckett, S., ‘'Collected Shorter Plays of Samuel Beckett'’ (London: Faber and Faber, 1984), p 33</ref>

===Sex===

# Tyler and Maddy flirt. Tyler, who had pumped his tire firm before departing, now finds his rear tire flat. He cycles off riding on the rim. As he leaves, Maddy complains about her [[corset]] and shouts after him an indecent invitation to unlace her behind a hedge.
# Mr Slocum (slow come) squeezes Maddy into his car: "I’m coming, Mrs Rooney, I’m coming, give me time, I’m as stiff as yourself."<ref>Beckett, S., ‘'Collected Shorter Plays of Samuel Beckett'’ (London: Faber and Faber, 1984), p 18</ref> She makes sexual [[innuendo]]s that she is in a compromising position. She giggles and shouts in delight when she finally gets in the car and Slocum is left panting in exhaustion. The sexual connotation is continued when her dress is ripped in the door. As if actually guilty of [[adultery]], Maddy wonders what her husband will say when he discovers the tear in her dress. 
# Tyler points out that the 12:30 train has not yet arrived and that one can tell by the signal at the "bawdy hour of nine."<ref name="Beckett 1984 p26"/> This is another reference to sex in the play and a humorous one as the stationmaster stifles a guffaw.
# Maddy tries to get Dan to kiss her at the station but he refuses. Later she asks him to put his arm around her. She says that it will be like old times. He rebuffs her again because he wants to get home quickly so that she can read to him. He says of the book, "I think Effie is going to commit adultery with the Major."<ref name="Beckett 1984 p29">Beckett, S., ‘'Collected Shorter Plays of Samuel Beckett'’ (London: Faber and Faber, 1984), p 29</ref> That indicates Dan is more interested in the romance of novels than with his wife.

===Birth===

If Maddy's entry into the car has sexual connotations, her exit certainly reminds one of [[childbirth]]: "Crouch down, Mrs Rooney, crouch down, and get your head in the open … Press her down, sir … Now! She’s coming!"<ref>Beckett, S., ‘'Collected Shorter Plays of Samuel Beckett'’ (London: Faber and Faber, 1984), pp 19,20</ref>

This is not the only 'birth' in the play. When describing his journey home, particularly the portion during the delay, Dan says it was like "being confined"<ref name="Beckett 1984 p29"/> an expression used to describe the concluding state of pregnancy; from the onset of labour to the birth. "If an underlying birth-scenario seems far-fetched, we might consider Maddy’s cries at the climax of the station scene: 'The up mail! The up mail! (a pun evident earlier in the play) – together with Tommy’s cry: 'She’s coming!’ – and, on the arrival of the down train, the direction (thoroughly in the spirit of the one in ''Happy Days'', which describes Willie as ‘''dressed to kill''’<ref>Beckett, S., 'Happy Days' in ''Grove Centenary Edition'', Vol III (New York: Grove Press, 2006), p 305</ref>), 'clashing of couplings'. When Dan finally emerges from 'the men’s' Maddy tells him that it is his birthday."<ref>Lawley, P., 'The Difficult Birth: An Image of Utterance in Beckett' in Davis, R. J. and Butler, L. St J., (Eds.) '''Make Sense Who May': Essays on Samuel Beckett’s Later Works'' (Gerrards Cross: Colin Smythe, 1988), p 8</ref> Immediately after this Maddy begins her recollection of the girl who was not properly born.

"If [Dan] has a role, it is perhaps that of the [[gravedigger]]/[[Obstetrics|obstetrician]] of the ''Godot'' image '[putting] on the [[forceps]]’ … Between Death and the Maiden he seems to be the mediator."<ref>Lawley, P., 'The Difficult Birth: An Image of Utterance in Beckett' in Davis, R. J. and Butler, L. St J., (Eds.) '''Make Sense Who May': Essays on Samuel Beckett’s Later Works'' (Gerrards Cross: Colin Smythe, 1988), p 10</ref> Dan gives birth to death.

===Children===

Dan, for example, has no idea what age he is and, if he turned out to be a hundred it wouldn't surprise him – but the young die. If a divine being is behind this then his logic is in question. According to Richard Coe's interpretation of ''All That Fall'', God kills "… without a reason."<ref>Coe, R., 'God and Samuel Beckett' in ''Meanjin Quarterly'' 24.1 1965, p 71</ref>

====Girls====

# Christy's hinny is [[Infertility|sterile]].
# Maddy has no children and has passed the age when she could conceive.
# When Maddy thinks about where Minnie would be now she pictures her approaching the [[menopause]].
# Tyler's daughter has needed a [[hysterectomy]] so his line will die with her.
# Dolly does not die but she is in mortal danger.
# Miss Fitt fears the loss of her mother.

====Boys====

# Tommy is an [[orphan]]
# Jerry's father has recently been taken away leaving him alone.
# The gender of the Lynch twins is not specified but their actions, as well as their placement in the text, points to the likelihood that they are males probably based on the twins, Art and Con, that appear in ''[[Watt (novel)|Watt]]''.<ref>Beckett. S., ''Watt'' (London: John Calder, [1963] 1998), p 99</ref> "The hostility of these children …reinforces the basic image of childlessness both in its presentation of children as alien to the Rooneys and in the way it provokes"<ref>Lyons, C. R., ''Samuel Beckett'', MacMillan Modern Dramatists (London: MacMillan Education, 1983), p 87</ref> Dan's question about thinking about killing a child.

===Dante===

Beckett retained lifelong affection for [[Dante Alighieri|Dante]] evident by the fact that his student copy of ''[https://web.archive.org/web/19990420170609/http://www.divinecomedy.org/divine_comedy.html The Divine Comedy]'' would be beside his deathbed in December 1989. References are found throughout all his work but it shouldn’t necessarily be assumed that what he is describing here is an aspect of [[Hell]].
# Tyler's remark, "I was merely cursing, under my breath, God and man, under my breath, and the wet Saturday afternoon of my conception."<ref name="Beckett 1984 p15"/> is reminiscent of the line from Canto III of the ''[[The Divine Comedy#Inferno|Inferno]]'' when Dante describes the cries of the condemned souls with which [[Charon (mythology)|Charon]] loads his ferry to cross the [[Acheron]]. Dante writes, "They cursed God, their parents, the human race, the place, the time, the seed of their begetting and of their birth."<ref>{{cite web|title=CANTO III, The Gate of Hell; the vestibule; the indecisive; Charon|website=Earthlink.net|url=http://home.earthlink.net/~zimls/HELLIII.html#55|access-date=30 March 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070402081726/http://home.earthlink.net/~zimls/HELLIII.html#55|archive-date=2 April 2007|url-status=dead}}</ref>
# The steep steps to the station recall Mount Purgatory in Dante's ''[[The Divine Comedy#Purgatorio|Purgatory]]''.
# Rooney suggests to his wife that they continue their journey walking backwards. He says, "Yes. Or you forwards and I backwards. The perfect pair. Like Dante’s damned, with their faces arsy-versy. Our tears will water our bottoms."<ref name="Beckett 1984 p31"/> Dan is referring to Inferno Canto 20, where the bodies of those who used magic to tell the future are twisted around and face backwards so that their tears run down their backs (lines 23–24) – "il pianto delli occhi/le natiche bagnava per lo fesso".

==Music==

The music at the beginning of the play not only provides its theme, it also provides its shape.
* "The [[Sonata form#Exposition|exposition]], Maddy’s slow outward journey, is the 'feminine' (i.e., dominance of a female voice and female themes)."
* "The [[Sonata form#Development|development]], the wait at the railway station, becomes more 'masculine' (Maddy's voice risks being crowded out by male characters who talk among themselves and are often oblivious to Maddy's presence). It is [[scherzo]]-like in pace, due to the hustle and bustle on the platform."
* "The final movement or [[Sonata form#Recapitulation|recapitulation]] is the couple’s return journey, which slows again and sees the submission of the feminine voice to the more brutish male tones of Dan Rooney."
*"This suggested structure of the plot owes more to basic [[sonata form]] than to [[Variation (music)|theme and variation]]. This is the form of the first movement of the ''Quartet in D minor''."<ref>Branigan, K., ‘''All That Fall'': How Samuel Beckett Enhanced Radio Drama Through Musical Structure' in  ''[http://www.nuim.ie/publications/research/research_record_2003.pdf National University of Ireland, Maynouth, Postgraduate Research Record, 2003] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061002040220/http://www.nuim.ie/publications/research/research_record_2003.pdf |date=2 October 2006 }}'', p 21</ref>
Rosemary Pountey goes so far as to tabulate the themes for both journeys showing the circular structure, even though "the play ends in a linear fashion":<ref>Pountney, R., ''Theatre of Shadows: Samuel Beckett’s Drama'' 1956–1976 (Gerrards Cross: Colin Smythe, 1988), pp 54,55</ref>

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| '''Outward Journey'''
| '''Inward Journey'''
|-
| 1. Footsteps
| 12. Footsteps
|-
| 2. ''Death and the Maiden''
| 11. Dead child – killed by train
|-
| 3. Hinny
| 10. Wild laughter
|-
| 4. Dung
| 9. Hardy
|-
| 5. Mrs Rooney's language
| 8. ''Death and the Maiden''
|-
| 6. Laburnum
| 7. Dung
|-
| 7. Hardy
| 6. Hinnies
|-
| 8. Rural Sounds
| 5. Laburnum
|-
| 9. Wild laughter
| 4. Mrs Rooney's language
|-
| 10. Dead hen – killed by car
| 3. Rural Sounds
|-
| 11. Up station steps
| 2. Down station steps
|-
| 12. Up mail passes  → 
| 1. Down train draws in
|-
|}

A remark made by Professor Harry White about Beckett's later dramatic work gives an idea of the demands made upon the listener in this and his subsequent radio work:

: "Like listening to difficult music for the first time."<ref>White, H., 'Something is Taking its Course: Dramatic Exactitude and the Paradigm of Serialism in Samuel Beckett' in Bryden, M., (Ed.) ''Samuel Beckett and Music'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998), p 171</ref>

By comparing Beckett's work to that of [[Serialism|serial]] composers such as [[Arnold Schoenberg|Schoenberg]] and [[Anton Webern|Webern]], White highlights the difficulties for listeners who are obliged to actively engage with challenging new form and content. Any meaning or deep structure will only become clear with repeated listening.

==Sound effects==

Since the journey of the main character is presented psychologically, Beckett asked for natural sounds to be adapted in unnatural ways. "New methods," [[Martin Esslin]] writes, "had to be found to extract the various sounds needed (both animal and mechanical – footsteps, cars, bicycle wheels, the train, the cart) from the simple naturalism of the hundreds of records in the BBC’s effects library. [[Desmond Briscoe]] [sound technician] (and his gramophone operator, Norman Baines) had to invent ways and means to remove these sounds from the purely realistic sphere. They did so by treating them electronically: slowing down, speeding up, adding echo, fragmenting them by cutting them into segments, and putting them together in new way."<ref>Esslin, M., ''Mediations. Essays on Brecht, Beckett, and the Media'' (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1980), p 122</ref> Actors produced the sounds of all the animals but "Beckett was actually unimpressed by the use of human voices for the rural sounds when he listened into the … broadcast."<ref>Branigan, K., ‘''All That Fall'': How Samuel Beckett Enhanced Radio Drama Through Musical Structure' in  ''[http://www.nuim.ie/publications/research/research_record_2003.pdf National University of Ireland, Maynouth, Postgraduate Research Record, 2003] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061002040220/http://www.nuim.ie/publications/research/research_record_2003.pdf |date=2 October 2006 }}'', p 19</ref>

"These experiments, and the discoveries made as they evolved, led directly to the establishment of the [[BBC Radiophonic Workshop]]. Beckett and ''All That Fall'' thus directly contributed to one of the most important technical advances in the art of radio (and the technique, and indeed technology, of radio in Britain)."<ref>Esslin, M., Quoted in Desmond Briscoe’s obituary in ''[[The Independent]]'', 26 February 2007</ref>

==Reception==
''All That Fall'' premiered to acclaim from critics.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.openculture.com/2015/05/hear-samuel-becketts-avant-garde-radio-plays-all-that-fall-embers-and-more.html|title=Hear Samuel Beckett's Avant-Garde Radio Plays: All That Fall, Embers, and More|website=Open Culture|language=en-US|access-date=2019-07-13}}</ref>

[[Jane Shilling]] praised it in 2016 as a work of "captivating, complex humanity".<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/theatre/what-to-see/all-that-fall-arts-theatre-review-all-the-captivating-complex-hu/|title=All That Fall, Arts Theatre, review: 'all the captivating, complex humanity of Beckett's play'|last=Shilling|first=Jane|date=2016-05-18|work=The Telegraph|access-date=2019-07-13|language=en-GB|issn=0307-1235}}</ref> [[Michael Billington (critic)|Michael Billington]] considers it Beckett’s best play.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2016/mar/24/all-that-fall-review-samuel-beckett-out-of-joint-wiltons-music-hall|title=All That Fall review – Beckett's best play brought to life for blindfolded audience|last=Billington|first=Michael|date=2016-03-24|work=The Guardian|access-date=2019-07-13|language=en-GB|issn=0261-3077}}</ref>

==Staged productions==

Beckett conceived ''All That Fall'' as a radio play. To Beckett's mind it was unthinkable to transfer it to another medium and yet it was done, and in his lifetime.

Beckett admonished Barney Rosset, on 27 August 1957, saying of ''All That Fall'': "It is no more theatre than ''[[Endgame (play)|Endgame]]'' is radio and to 'act' it is to kill it. Even the reduced visual dimension it will receive from the simplest and most static of readings ... will be destructive of whatever quality it may have and which depends on the whole thing's ''coming out of the dark''."<ref>Oppenheim, L., Ed, ''Directing Beckett'' (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1994), p 191</ref> And yet despite this fact "Beckett authorised a French TV version adapted by Robert Pinget, shown on [[Radiodiffusion-Télévision Française|RTF]] on 25 January 1963. A German stage production was given at the Schiller-Theatre, [[Berlin]] in January 1966; Beckett was not happy with either."<ref>Ackerley, C. J. and Gontarski, S. E., (Eds.) ''The Faber Companion to Samuel Beckett'', (London: Faber and Faber, 2006), p 11</ref>

"When … [[Ingmar Bergman]] asked if he could stage both radio plays, ''All That Fall'' and ''[[Embers]]'', the answer was a firm 'No'".<ref>Knowlson, J., ''Damned to Fame: The Life of Samuel Beckett'' (London: Bloomsbury, 1996), p 505</ref> The same went, in 1969, when Sir [[Laurence Olivier]] and his wife visited him to persuade him to allow them to produce a version at the [[Royal National Theatre|National Theatre]]. "They had refused to accept his written refusals and made the trip … anyway. There he greeted them with politeness and offered limited hospitality, but remained steadfast in his decision".<ref>Bair, D., ''Samuel Beckett: A Biography'' (London: Vintage, 1990), p 638</ref>

In 2006 a successful production was mounted in New York City at the Cherry Lane Theatre. One critic noted at the time: "[S]ince his death [Beckett’s] Estate has assiduously followed his wishes. Permission is granted only for faithful radio productions or for staged readings in which producers agree to limit the action to actors speaking the lines and walking to and from chairs. The director John Sowle, in his [earlier, 1997] staging of ''All That Fall'' … cleverly identified a loophole in the rules: since the play requires many elaborate and self-consciously artificial sound-effects, the production of those effects can become a spectacle in its own right. On stage at the Cherry Lane are a [[wind machine]], gravel-trays, bells, coconuts, a stationary bike and much more. Furthermore, the actors, who read in front of old-fashioned mikes, dressed in 1950s clothes, never acknowledge the audience, even at the [[curtain call]]. The conceit is that they're performing a live sound-stage broadcast of the play on which we're eavesdropping."<ref>Kalb, J., [http://hotreview.org/ HotReview.org] quoted on the Kaliyuga website. [http://www.kaliyuga.com/ATFNYPg.htm]</ref>

The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) was granted permission to stage 'All That Fall' in the Summer of 2008. It starred Jillian Bradbury and was directed by Bill Gaskill with movement by Toby Sedgwick of War Horse fame. Gaskill wanted to mount the production professionally in London the following year but was refused permission by the Beckett Estate.

Cesear's Forum, Cleveland's small minimalist theatre at Kennedy's Down Under, PlayhouseSquare, OH, presented the play in September 2010.  The Plain Dealer theatre critic, Tony Brown, wrote: "Onto the tiny Kennedy's stage, done up to be a multitiered studio, Cesear crowds nine actors, a violinist and a vocalist, a feast of fine local talent playing both the radio actors and the characters they play in the radio play."<ref>{{cite news|last1=Brown|first1=Tony|title='All That Fall" at Cesear's Forum, 'Closure' at Karamu Theater among latest local offerings|url=http://www.cleveland.com/onstage/index.ssf/2010/09/all_that_fall_at_cesears_forum.html|access-date=25 May 2015|work=[[The Plain Dealer]]|date=20 September 2010}}</ref>

Pan Pan, an Irish theatre company, offered the play in August 2011 in the Project Arts Centre, Dublin. A recording of the play was broadcast into the empty theatre space where the audience sat on rocking chairs overlooked by a lighting array on one wall and lowly lit lightbulbs hanging from the ceiling. This production was intended to provide a shared theatrical experience while preserving the wishes of the author.

Trevor Nunn's 2013 "landmark" stage production retained the concept of a radio studio, but introduced such [[Theatrical property|props]] as the cab of Mr Slocum's car, thus permitting the visual comedy of the strikingly thin actor [[Eileen Atkins]] as she played the stout Mrs Rooney being manoeuvred in and out of the passenger seat for a lift to the station. All the actors carried scripts.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Taylor|first1=Paul|title=All That Fall, Jermyn Street Theatre, London|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/theatre-dance/reviews/all-that-fall-jermyn-street-theatre-london-8209001.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140824205046/http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/theatre-dance/reviews/all-that-fall-jermyn-street-theatre-london-8209001.html |archive-date=2014-08-24 |url-access=limited |url-status=live|access-date=22 April 2015|work=[[The Independent]]|date=12 October 2012}}</ref>

In 2014 Sandbox Radio staged a production in Seattle in which an audience member viewed a radio production on stage, complete with actors reading scripts and elaborate sound effects.

There was a performance as a Radio Play in Vancouver late 2014 or early 2015.
In 2016 Max Stafford Clark directed a version with the audience blindfolded for Out Of Joint Theatre Company which played the Enniskillen Beckett Festival, Bristol Old Vic and Wilton's Music Hall, London.

In March 2019 Dublin's Mouth on Fire Theatre Company also mounted a production where they asked the audience members to put on a blindfold or to close their eyes. This performance was at Tullow Church, Carrickmines/Foxrock, where Beckett worshipped as a child and where the family had a pew as Beckett's mother attended regularly, and only five minutes' walk from Cooldrinagh, the Beckett family home. The President of Ireland and his wife Sabina Higgins attended the performance and invited the company to remount the production at Áras an Uachtaráin on Culture Night in September 2019, as the President's celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of Beckett receiving the Nobel Prize for Literature and the thirtieth anniversary of his death. It starred Geraldine Plunkett and Donncha Crowley and was directed by Cathal Quinn.

In 2022, [[Melanie Beddie]] directed a production of the play for [[La Mama Theatre (Melbourne)|La Mama Theatre]] in [[Melbourne]].<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.stagewhispers.com.au/reviews/all-fall | title=All That Fall &#124; Stage Whispers }}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*Extract from the original BBC broadcast (''[[Windows Media]]'') – mms://audio.bl.uk/media/beckett.wma

{{Beckett}}

[[Category:1962 plays]]
[[Category:Theatre of the Absurd]]
[[Category:Plays by Samuel Beckett]]