Images of Beckett - Index of

silence, death and nothingness register infallibly, as silence evokes the
non-being that lies in wait for Krapp. Yet it does this in the context of
presence. Paradoxically, Krapp is never more dramatically real than when
he freezes in total silence.
Sound and silence, immobility and movement all participate in
a dynamic theatre of ambiguity, fragility and inexplicability. Beckett’s
comment on the ‘subliminal’ impact of his patterns and his echoes points
to the subtlety and the delicacy of his art. As a director of his own plays,
he naturally wanted to be as true as he possibly could to his vision, while
creating aesthetically satisfying patterns of shapes, movements and sounds.
But he also wanted to ensure that his visual as well as his verbal imagery
would echo memorably in the mind of the spectator. Reference was
anathema to him and both as a director and as a writer he worked through
suggestion rather than explicit statement. It is evidence of his remarkable
success that, so long after his death, memories of his productions remain
so vividly etched in one’s mind.
BECKETT AS DIRECTOR 147