Rough for Radio I is a short radio play by Samuel Beckett, written in French in 1961 and first published in Minuit 5 in September 1973 as Esquisse radiophonique. Its first English publication as Sketch for Radio Play was in Stereo Headphones 7 (spring 1976), and first appeared under its current title in Ends and Odds (Grove 1976, Faber 1977).^[1]

"Plans for a BBC production, with Humphrey Searle providing the music, were made soon after the publication of the original French version but came to nothing and a later BBC proposal to produce the play without music was rejected by Beckett in the late 1970s. According to the Beckett estate the French version was produced by ORTF (Office de Radiodiffusion Télévision Française) in 1962, although Beckett himself seems later to have forgotten about this production."^[2]

A complete run of all Beckett's radio plays was presented by RTÉ Radio 1 in 2006 to celebrate the centenary of the author's birth; Rough for Radio I was broadcast on April 12.

The work has also been produced on compact disc by the British pianist John Tilbury who also speaks the part of "He". It was recorded at Trinity College of Music and Electronic Music Studio, Goldsmiths College, London, in 2004/5 along with a version of Cascando, the music composed and performed by John Tilbury with electronic modulations by Sebastian Lexer.