Monday, November 15, 2010
Krapp's Last Tape
Holy Krapp! This play was like nothing else I had ever read before. Apart from being 4 pages, I thought the amount of stage directions in relation to the amount of text was overwhelming. With only a 4 page play, I see it a very aggressive choice having the first full page, and about another half of a page throughout the text being dedicated to stage directions. In particular the two bananas that Krapp eats and or peels seemed noteworthy. "Takes out a large banana, peers at it,... He turns advancing to edge of stage, halts, strokes banana, peels it, drops skin at his been, puts end of banana in his mouth and remains motionless" The detail here is so different to that found in the play we just read, the Importance of Being Earnest. As said in lecture, Beckett gave little insight to the directors and actors performing his works and claimed there is nothing more than what is on the text. This makes sense as he gives all the detail an actor needs. However this does inhibit the creativity of the actor, versus other plays where the characters and actions can vary drastically from performance to performance. And back to the Banana, the second one more specifically, "Takes out a second large banana, peers at it... strokes Banana, peels it, tosses skin in to pit, puts end of banana in his mouth and remains motionless, starting vacuously before him. Finally he has an idea and puts the banana in his waist coat pocket." This is what got to me. I may not be your average banana eater, but i have never thought to put a peeled, or un peeled for that matter, banana back in my pocket. Maybe Krapp would love this Raffi Song http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5C6X9vOEkU
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First of all I watched the youtube video, loved it! I could definitely see how Krapp would like it also. I completely agree that this is very different from anything that we have read so far in class. I think that it is kind of cool how he gives all of the direction in the text though. Beckett really wanted his plays to be his own and didn't want anyone to think deeper into it than they had to. In giving all of the stage direction on the page Beckett makes sure that the play is performed exactly how he wants it performed and there could be no questions or excuses about it.
ReplyDeleteI agree that there was an overwhelming amount of stage directions. But like you said, it really gives the actor insight on how he should act. That being said, I wonder if perhaps some of the stage directions are too controlling and don't allow the actor enough room to make his own choices.
ReplyDeleteI like the overwhelming stage directions. I think I would like to play this role if I was an actor because I would be more interested in doing the actions than saying words on stage.
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