Samuel Beckett Play…
December 20, 2008 1:00 amBreath
A play by Samuel Beckett lasting for precisely 35 seconds, considered the shortest play ever written. It was first staged in New York in 1969. Originally written for Kenneth Tynan’s revue, “Oh! Calcutta!” Unfortunately, the producer added “including naked people” to the stage directions and Beckett withdrew his piece. Considered to be Beckett’s final comment on our state of existence.
Curtain.
1. Faint light on stage littered with miscellaneous rubbish. Hold for about five seconds.
2. Faint brief cry and immediately inspiration and slow increase of light together reaching maximum together in about ten seconds. Silence and hold about five seconds.
3. Expiration and slow decrease of light together reaching minimum together (light as in 1) in about ten seconds and immediately cry as before. Silence and hold for about five seconds.
Rubbish. No verticals, all scattered and lying.
Cry. Instant of recorded vagitus. Important that two cries be identical, switching on and off strictly synchronized light and breath.
Breath. Amplified recording.
Maximum light. Not bright. If 0 = dark and 10 = bright, light should move from about 3 to 6 and back.
In my more cynical moments, I can surrender to such an artistic depiction / appraisal of life lived. And if I try to capture my own life summation in my mind in a moment it can seem like a flash of haphazard nonsense. Artistic impressions of meaninglessness always strike me strange. I love how exacting this recipe is for describing a nihilistic mood. If it really doesn’t amount to anything, why go through all the trouble to describe it with any definition at all? We are creatures that can’t help but to impute meaning to our activities, even if those activities are intent on devaluing the meaning of life. And with that question, I truly appreciate this little capsule of expression concerning the futility of life… a chasing after the wind… cue wind sound for 10 seconds…
Categories: Philosophy, Art, Script Ideas
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