From Words To Acts

Viewing and reading Krapp’s Last Tape highlights the importance of the acting. Here we see Patrick Magee in an adaptation that captures the scenes transmitted by the script and adds the emotions required to immerse the audience in it. From the script alone one can deduce the general tone of the play. Still, the acting remains essential. In this case, the subtle facial expressions and tone of the actor help show in greater depth Beckett’s idea.

The play has an overall darkness and melancholy. Although the setting and script evoke these emotions, their intensity remains to the actor’s discretion. From the insignificant pleasure Krapp experiences from saying “spool”, to the nostalgia in his expression when remembering his past love, the script tells us of their existence, but the actor defines them. Similarly to the way there can be several Hamlets and Romeos there can be different Krapps. In Krapp's Last Tape, the text describes with greater detail the actions of the character on stage. This restrains the actor more than Shakespeare but still leaves room for interpretation. If this play with such specific descriptions allows this, the possibilities for Shakespeare would apparently be endless.

In the specific case of Magee’s representation, we see a man with little of his sanity left that attempts to examine, in that special date, his past. The first shot shows him hopeless and lost in thought. This sets the tone of the rest of the play. When listening to his recordings, he has lost himself in the thoughts of what he used to be. We see, through the entire act, the efforts of a man trying to reflect and relive his past. The script does not include that key expression. It only covers the essential things necessary to portray what the writer wanted.

The ability to portray the characters they want without having to express their emotions directly, makes both Shakespeare and Samuel Becket similar. A true Krapp’s Last Tape must be melancholic and sad the same way The Taming of The Shrew must be comical in its nature. The author achieves this not by writing what the actors must be expressing but by allowing the actors interpretation of the script take shape. Although this might seems as great amount of freedom given to the actor, the author has narrowed the possibilities enough to ensure his will prevails. Due to this, in the case of Hamlet and other Shakespearean works, the actor may only perform a character a certain way. Not because the play mentions it directly, but because of the setting, and general events that take place only allow a few possible outcomes. This changed my views on the apparently permissive Shakespearean works (in terms of acting) by helping me realize a good Shakespearean actor is one that not only leaves his unique signature in the character but also, one that portrays most accurately Shakespeare’s version of it.