Dance First is a 2023 biographical film about Irish playwright Samuel Beckett, directed by James Marsh and written by Neil Forsyth.

The film documents the Irish writer's life, from his childhood, his friendship with James Joyce until the incarceration of the latter's mentally ill daughter Lucia Joyce, his relationship with his future wife Suzanne Dumesnil, his time as a fighter for the French Resistance during the Second World War, his postwar literary rise and subsequent Nobel Prize for Literature in 1969, his affair with translator Barbara Bray and his later life until his death in 1989.

The project was developed with Sky Arts in the U.K. and produced by 2LE Media's Michael Livingstone and Tom Thostrup, alongside Viktória Petrányi of Hungary's Proton Cinema and Belgium's Umedia.

[24] The Financial Times called Marsh “a graceful stylist” and praised the performances of Bonnaire and Peake, saying, “There is dramatic elegance to the mirrored excellence of the actresses”.

[25] The Irish Independent said that Byrne, “sinks into the role remarkably well” and called the film, “an honourable attempt at a Beckett biopic, well cast and not overplayed”.

[28] The Arts Desk praised Forsyth's “wonderful” dialogue and “the elegant chiaroscuro of Antonio Paladino's cinematography”F[29] In March 2024, Bronagh Gallagher was nominated for Best Supporting Actress at the IFTA Film & Drama Awards.