KRAPP'S LAST TAPE, NOT I, THAT TIME, & A PIECE OF MONOLOGUE

Five years after the success of WAITING FOR GODOT, playwright Samuel Beckett wrote these four works, which are part of a series of monologue plays. Beckett strove to present extraordinary stage pictures in his plays through his words and through visual elements. Unfortunately, his works as audio presentations are difficult to fully comprehend when the visual theatrical elements are missing. The actors do try to enhance the text through their audio performances. Most successful are Jim Norton in KRAPP'S LAST TAPE, as an old bachelor scratchily reminiscing on his 69th birthday, and Juliet Stevenson, whirling at breakneck speed but with great dynamics through NOT I, a monologue that suggests an uneventful and unhappy life. M.R.E. © AudioFile 2006, Portland, Maine [Published: AUG/ SEP 06]