The UK premiere was at the Close Theatre Club in Glasgow in October 1969; this was the first performance of the text as written.
The second performance, and the English premiere, was at a benefit held at the Oxford Playhouse on March 8, 1970.
"In one of his few displays of public anger, Beckett called Tynan a 'liar' and a 'cheat', prompting Tynan to send a formal notice through his lawyers that he was not responsible for the travesty, which he claimed was due to others ... Beckett decided the incident wasn't worth the argument and dropped it.
I realized when too late to repent that it is not unconnected withOn entre, on crie Et c'est la vie.
But someone tampered with the text, and added a stage direction to include naked people to the miscellaneous rubbish.
On top of that, the photograph on the page that faced Beckett's script showed the naked bodies.
Hirst says: "When I was asked to direct this film, I read the text and thought it was incredibly precise and strict.