MIDDLEBURY — Gare St Lazare Ireland, an Irish theater company led by husband-wife team Conor and Judy Lovett, celebrates 20 years of touring Beckett’s prose internationally with a revival of “Molloy.” The couple will perform the first solo show of this tour on the Vermont Coffee Company’s stage at 1197 Exchange Street in Middlebury at 7:30 p.m. this Sunday evening.
Molloy, a crippled tramp, recounts an attempt to visit his aged mother. Along his route he is apprehended by the police for indecently resting on his bicycle. Shortly after his release from the police station he encounters an old woman and her dog, with dire consequences for the latter. “Molloy” is one of Beckett’s most poignant and arresting characters. His view of society, and the world, is as funny as it is true.
“We first performed in Vermont in 2010 when Jay Craven of Kingdom County Productions brought us to St. Johnsbury,  and the following year we played Burlington and Lyndonville,” Conor Lovett explained. While in Lyndonville, the Lovetts met Deb Gwinn and Paul Ralston of Vermont Coffee Company. “She and Paul liked what they saw… They’ve become great supporters of our work.”
Last fall, Gare St Lazare performed “First Love” and “The End” by Samuel Beckett at the Vermont Coffee Company Playhouse. They got a return invitation and will present “Molloy” this weekend. “It’s a gorgeous place and the people there have been very welcoming,” said Lovett, “and the coffee’s the best.”
The Lovetts hope to make Middlebury a regular stop. This year they will be giving a master class at Middlebury College, where some of the students are preparing a production of “Waiting For Godot.” 
Among the foremost theater interpreters of Samuel Beckett’s work, with particular emphasis on his non-theater writings, Gare St Lazare Ireland has a repertory of over 17 Beckett titles and has toured to over 80 cities in 25 countries worldwide. The New York Times calls Gare St Lazare, “The unparalleled Beckett champions.”
To get a seat at this Sunday’s free show, email [email protected]. Space is limited. For more info call (802) 398-2776.