Productions » Three Short Plays
Three short one act plays by Samuel Beckett
MITP – Valletta
February 1997
Krapp’s Last Tape
looks at a 69-year-old, sex-obsessed, banana craving alcoholic living on his memories. Each birthday, Krapp makes a tape of the important events in his life over the previous year. On his 69th birthday, we find Krapp listening and reacting to a tape he made on his 39th birthday, and he realises that nothing has changed in his life over the 30 years. A powerful, tragic and moving play, this is one of Beckett’s better known shorter works.
Act Without Words II
is an absurd mime in which two actors are prodded out of their secure sack to perform their daily routines – fast or slow, but repetitive actions nevertheless
Ohio Impromptu
was inspired by Beckett’s aging wife Suzanne. Beckett was obsessed with being alone – he wanted to be alone but could not imagine life without Suzanne. When first performed in the UK, theatre critic Michael Billington described it as the most outstanding piece of stillness that Beckett had written which will visually haunt you to the grave.
