Holy Krapp! Gary Oldman and Stephen Rea unspool Beckett’s masterpiece about memory
Krapp’s Last Tape, in which an old man rummages through recordings of his younger self, is back for two star-powered revivals. This haunting play invites actors and audiences to reconnect with their pastI am a Krapp collector. Since my late teens I’ve returned time and again to Samuel Beckett’s brief but monumental one-act play in which a purple-nosed, “wearish old man” spools through reels of memoir recorded each year on his birthday. Although performed by a single actor, Krapp’s Last Tape is not quite a monologue. It becomes a kind of dialogue between the 69-year-old Krapp and his recorded 39-year-old self, who in turn reflects on how he behaved in his late 20s.It is, then, a tale of three Krapps. I’ve sailed past two of those ages: next stop, 69! Beckett’s play has endured partly because it bottles the nature of regret – it asks us all to consider what could have happened if we had made other choices in our lives, how things might have turned out differently. Two current productions – starring Gary Oldman at York Theatre Royal and Stephen Rea at the Barbican in London – not only invite audiences to consider such questions but also give the actors a rare opportunity to reconnect with their past. Continue reading...
Krapp’s Last Tape, in which an old man rummages through recordings of his younger self, is back for two star-powered revivals. This haunting play invites actors and audiences to reconnect with their past
I am a Krapp collector. Since my late teens I’ve returned time and again to Samuel Beckett’s brief but monumental one-act play in which a purple-nosed, “wearish old man” spools through reels of memoir recorded each year on his birthday. Although performed by a single actor, Krapp’s Last Tape is not quite a monologue. It becomes a kind of dialogue between the 69-year-old Krapp and his recorded 39-year-old self, who in turn reflects on how he behaved in his late 20s.
It is, then, a tale of three Krapps. I’ve sailed past two of those ages: next stop, 69! Beckett’s play has endured partly because it bottles the nature of regret – it asks us all to consider what could have happened if we had made other choices in our lives, how things might have turned out differently. Two current productions – starring Gary Oldman at York Theatre Royal and Stephen Rea at the Barbican in London – not only invite audiences to consider such questions but also give the actors a rare opportunity to reconnect with their past. Continue reading...
