Krapp’s Last Tape

It was when I did some research on Irish born Samuel Beckett, playwright, poet, critic and short story writer that the reason for several of his works became clear. For many, he is best known for his literary and theatrical work featuring bleak, impersonal, and tragicomic experiences of life, often coupled with black comedy. Known for aesthetic and linguistic experimentation, with techniques of stream of consciousness repetition and self-reference, he was regarded as groundbreaking in ‘theatre of the absurd’ and later received the 1969 Nobel Prize in Literature for his writing.

A resident of Paris for most of his adult life, Beckett wrote in both French and English, often writing half of a play in one language and completing it in the other, and believed that this aided his flow and creativity.

Despite being a decorated member of the French Resistance during the war, he suffered a nervous collapse. He under took psychotherapy and it was this and a ‘vision’ he had, where he was told to draw his inspiration from within, that much of his later writing reflects. A natural athlete, he was also a graduate of Trinity College and became the inaugural Saoi ,"wise one”, the highest honour bestowed by Aosdána, a state-supported association of Irish creative artists. The title is awarded, for life, to an existing Aosdána member. The Beckett canon contains some 34 dramatic pieces for theatre, radio, television and film and Krapp’s Last Tape is regarded as one of his greatest works.

Possibly best known for his 1949 play Waiting for Godot, Krapp’s Last Tape, written in English, is a deeply purposeful introspective reflection, interestingly, on love. Krapp, a man in his late 60’s, has recorded a new tape of his year, every year on his birthday. On his 69^th birthday, confronting what has been and might have been; he listens back to a tape he recorded three decades before.

Performed by Stephen Rea, Irish actor of stage and screen, Krapp’s Last Tape celebrates the power of silence and carefully placed movement. Directed by Vicky Featherstone, she captures the use of dark shadows and a stark black and white setting that oozes the uncertainty often associated with Beckett’s work. Lit by Paul Keogan, the stage is lonely and confronting, relieved only by a single, colourless man, solitary, initially muttering, his only company a tape recorder and a pile of tapes, the sound masterfully designed by Kevin Gleeson.

Rea’s career on stages across Dublin, London and New York has taken place in tandem with his award-winning film and television career. Ranked, in 2020 by The Irish Times as the 13th greatest Irish film actor of all time, he was born to play a Beckett role. Additionally, Rea is an Academy Award, Golden Globe Award, and Tony Award nominee, a two-time BAFTA Award winner, and a three-time Irish Film and Television (IFTA) Award winner.

I am avoiding telling the story, because it needs to be seen for individuals to ascribe their own personal meaning. Having said that, the production is in the masterful hands of the Landmark Productions Irish team. It is equally presented by Rea as a Beckett masterclass.

Jude Hines

Photographer: Pato Cassinoni

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