THE PLAYS
Samuel Beckett's plays are unlike anything you've ever witnessed before. He embodies dark, eerie characters with insane actions that leave the viewer with more questions than answers at the end of the play. Beckett has had extreme success in many of his plays--here are a few of his famous productions.
The story of two men, Vladimir and Estragon, waiting for the arrival of Godot at a desolate area with only a bare tree. They come everyday to meet Godot who never shows up. Beckett's play encompasses the ultimate action of life--waiting.
Waiting For Godot
"It is a mistery wrapped in an enigma."
-Atkinson, New York Times
This production encompasses the complexity of a twisted love triangle. The three characters are placed in urns and explain the complicated affair to the audience.
Play
"Brought out the fun and absurdity without losing the awesome sense of spiritual ordeal, easily drawing the audience from ready laughter the first time of the purgatorial round to absorbed and troubled attention the second."
-Katharine J. Worth
Tells the story of a mute woman who has just experienced a traumatic incidence. She imagines wandering a field while talking to the audience in a jittery and insane tone about all the hardships she has gone through in life.
Not I
"Is a memorable tale of lonely courage, stoic endurance, self-imposed hardship and a life lived amid ubiqitious, all encompassing danger."
-Joachim Fest, New York Times
Endgame
"He can create a mood by using words as incantations. Although the dialogue is often baffing, there is no doubt about the total impression. We are through, he says. Nature has forgotten us. The jig is up."
-Brooks Atkinson, New York Times
The play is about a blind man, Hamm, and his slave, Clov, who must run constant errands. In addition, there are two more characters that serve as a chorus and discuss the theme of death throughout the play.
Act Without Words is an interesting play with many actions that do not nescessarily make sense. The character is alone in a dessert with a tree that supplies him with goods only for a limited amount of time. At the end of the play, he has not gotten any farther than at the beginning of the play.
Act Without Words
"It's an exhilarating mime full of humor, thought and spectacle--in fact, an amazing amount of spectacle."
-Anthony Del Valle
Beckett, The Norton Anthology of Drama
Beckett, Collected Shorter Plays
Beckett, Collected Shorter Plays
Beckett, Endgame: a play in one act, followed by Act Without Words, a mime for one player
Beckett, Endgame: a play in one act, followed by Act Without Words, a mime for one player
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