Krapp’s Last Tape

Portland Mercury, July 31, 2003
by Justin Wescoat Sanders

The Samuel Beckett Estate is extremely possessive of the Master’s works (as was the Master), and typically demands that productions follow his stage directions to a T. And sure enough, those familiar with the text of the one-man show Krapp’s Last Tape will recognize here its every detail and nuance, obediently executed onto the Liminal stage. From the wonderful opening sequence where Krapp painstakingly shuffles about, fishes out a banana, caresses it, peels it, and falls asleep with it dangling out of his mouth; to the way he listens to the tapes of his own voice, frequently stopping the machine for breaks of studied sighs and contemplation; it’s all here, and it’s all meticulous.

John Berendzen, with the help of superb director/choreographer Amanda Boekelheide has nailed Krapp’s mannerisms and uncompromising physicality. With Krapp, every step, breath, sigh, and position has been repeated and magnified for decades, and Berendzen’s movements have a fitting, studied quality about them that reflects a lifetime of routine. With his wild hair and hunched walk, he also has the perfect look for the decrepit Krapp, though his squeaky voice and bulging eyes do add a rather silly dimension to the proceedings, which technically are about an old man dying in the throes of alcoholism and pain over his dead lover, and thus really not silly at all. But for all its campiness, Berendzen’s performance is also fully realized, and frequently hilarious. It’s hard to find such layered, unflinching portrayals in this town, whether you agree with all the acting choices or not.

Krapp’s Last Tape (2003)

First performed in 1958, Krapp’s Last Tape signaled a new era for avant-garde performance and changed the face of modern theatre with its repetitive literary structure, vaudevillian imagery and stark postmodern perspective. Following on the heels of Godot, Krapp’s Last Tape marked a move in Beckett’s work toward the autobiographical. The play combines painfully hilarious comedy with delightfully gut-wrenching tragedy to reveal past and present moments from one man’s life. As a character, Krapp becomes the ultra-retro-modern Everyman who sometimes plays the clown slipping on a banana peel, and at other times plays the tragic hero battling his inmost dreams and fears.

Liminal’s interest in incorporating live sound and media into our performances made us particularly interested in Krapp’s Last Tape. It is one of the first 20th century theatrical works to incorporate recorded media as an essential part of its structure. Beckett masterfully unfolds his story through a dialogue between live actor and machine, where a single character depends on a reel-to-reel tape recorder to re-live his past. Together, Krapp and the audience experience his life for the first time through Beckett’s elaborate layering of live and recorded dialogue.

Krapp’s Last Tape was performed in July 2003 by Liminal sound and media designer John Berendzen with direction from Liminal movement director Amanda Boekelheide.

An installation at Liminal Space by painter David Hayes featured portraits of Samuel Beckett, as well as paintings inspired by his writings.

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