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leonard_gaya's review against another edition
3.0
Ce volume comprend deux petites pièces, qui, comme souvent chez Beckett, me laissent une impression d'étrangeté et de léger malaise. La dernière bande est un monologue avec soi-même, ou plus exactement un dialogue entre un personnage et des bandes enregistrées par lui des années auparavant. Cendres est une sorte de jeu entre un homme et des fantômes du passé. Deux pièces, donc, sur la mémoire et le passage du temps. Mais le plus fascinant dans ces textes, ce sont les didascalies et indications scéniques, toujours très précises, qui donnent une impression de futilité et de décrépitude.
sydsnot71's review against another edition
5.0
Well, Samuel Beckett. I listened to these performances whilst following along from 'The Complete Dramatic Works', published by Faber & Faber. I like doing that with poetry and, although these are 'dramatic works' there is a sense of poetry about them.
It starts with Krapp's Last Tape, performed by Jim Norton. This was my favourite of the four pieces and I'm going to find a performance of this to watch. There is a John Hurt one, which I think I might have to try and get my grubby little protuberances on. A man listens to tapes of his old self. It's more moving than you'd expect because so much is sub-text.
Then 'That Time: A/B/C, performed by John Moffatt. Here a man talks to himself about losing himself. It seems like the words of a man who has been broken by something. A wondering, wounded man.
Next is 'Not I: Mouth', performed by Juliet Stevenson. This time a woman, also broken in some way, lying in a field delivers a speedy monologue from a mouth that, if we are to believe what we hear, hardly ever speaks. The flow of words is rapid and repetitive. It is also surprisingly moving. Someone who survived through (almost) silence trying to explain something to us that we are never going to entirely understand. Is she dying? Who knows? Who. Knows.
Finally, Peter Marinker performs 'A Piece of a Monologue'. If 'Not I: Mouth' is rapid-fire then 'A Piece of a Monologue' is the very opposite. Yet its slowness is as much of a verbal smokescreen as the Mouth's speed. A man, in a room, where the light is barely enough for him to see. Unable to say what needs to be said? Is he trapped in memories at the end of life? Is this a reflection on mortality? It is hard to be certain, but it sounds like the musings of the loneliest person on Earth to me.
Beckett, like Pinter, is elusive. You can read what you want into his work and I don't think he'd mind much.
It starts with Krapp's Last Tape, performed by Jim Norton. This was my favourite of the four pieces and I'm going to find a performance of this to watch. There is a John Hurt one, which I think I might have to try and get my grubby little protuberances on. A man listens to tapes of his old self. It's more moving than you'd expect because so much is sub-text.
Then 'That Time: A/B/C, performed by John Moffatt. Here a man talks to himself about losing himself. It seems like the words of a man who has been broken by something. A wondering, wounded man.
Next is 'Not I: Mouth', performed by Juliet Stevenson. This time a woman, also broken in some way, lying in a field delivers a speedy monologue from a mouth that, if we are to believe what we hear, hardly ever speaks. The flow of words is rapid and repetitive. It is also surprisingly moving. Someone who survived through (almost) silence trying to explain something to us that we are never going to entirely understand. Is she dying? Who knows? Who. Knows.
Finally, Peter Marinker performs 'A Piece of a Monologue'. If 'Not I: Mouth' is rapid-fire then 'A Piece of a Monologue' is the very opposite. Yet its slowness is as much of a verbal smokescreen as the Mouth's speed. A man, in a room, where the light is barely enough for him to see. Unable to say what needs to be said? Is he trapped in memories at the end of life? Is this a reflection on mortality? It is hard to be certain, but it sounds like the musings of the loneliest person on Earth to me.
Beckett, like Pinter, is elusive. You can read what you want into his work and I don't think he'd mind much.
listensandy's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
temegill's review against another edition
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
morganzayet's review against another edition
dark
funny
hopeful
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
kiramay02's review against another edition
Awful stupid pretentious modern bullshit
iris_sel's review against another edition
challenging
dark
funny
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
4.0
sophielouu's review against another edition
challenging
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
2.25
twinpeaks's review against another edition
3.75
beckett plays are like reading an instagram infomercial on genocide while sitting on the metro with a monoprix salad and 7 euro wine in a thrifted big purse. do you get what i mean