Jon Fosse

Nightsongs

I don't know what it is
that always makes something happen
But it must be something
Because something always happens
I don't want anything to happen
and then something
happens all the same
(Translated by Gregory Motton)

They have a child and life changes. He can't go out, and she can't stay in the house. He writes words that no one will publish, and she takes a lover.

In Nightsongs we meet a young couple and heir newborn child. He writes words that no one will publish, becoming more and more isolated from each refusal. She finds the life they lead unbearable. One night she goes out and returns with a new friend. The Royal Court production of Nightsongs was dubbed ‘Waiting for Godot without the gags’.