Beckett’s one-act, one-man play gets the all-star treatment from David Westhead and director Stockard Channing…
Among the spooky atmosphere of the attic at the Roxy, a 69-year-old Krapp (Westhead) looks back at his meticulous collection of reel-to-reel tapes he’s recorded every year. He chooses at random the tape recorded aged 30, bringing back painful memories of love, loss and regrets.
It starts in a deliberately uncomfortable way, with two minutes of no dialogue and Krapp’s awkward shuffling around, pausing only to eat bananas, sneak an offstage drink or unlock the desk drawer with his precious tapes. As the play progresses, there’s moments of gentle humour as Krapp embraces the tape machine when it recounts the more intimate moments with his partner, his frustration as he fast-forwards through his youthful waffling, and the pain of losing his mother causing him to stop the tape regularly.
The tape, in a way, does most of the talking; most of the ‘live’ monologue is towards the end, but it’s in the reactions to the recording that the humanity lies. Krapp has no idea what to put in his latest tape- what has he achieved, locked in a small messy flat obsessing over his past? We only know he has no regrets, as the tape fades to silence.
In the post-show Q&A, Westhead explained that this adaptation was inspired by a performance in a Lithuanian living room; Channing added that the restricted nature of the staging was fascinating, but her friendship with Westhead made the creative process easy. Young audiences relate to Krapp because they take comfort in the hardships he endured, Westhead noted, and it certainly seemed that way judging by the pensive expressions as we left the theatre.
Krapp’s Last Tape is a compelling, thoughtful examination of growing old and what milestones we choose to remember.
****
Krapp’s Last Tape is at Assembly Roxy from 5-31 Aug (not 17th) at 13:25.