I have read ‘Krapp’s Last Tape’ before, about a year ago for one university module and now I have reread it for another. It is a short piece of drama about a man in a seemingly post-apocalyptic world who plays old tapes he recorded on his thirty ninth birthday, thirty years ago, and looks back on reminiscing on the old state of the world, or rather hating himself for what he has become.

When I first read it I really disliked this play, honestly maybe in the realm of one star, and I also had to watch a screening of it that extended the 13 pages to be slowly dragged out over an hour. This really didn’t help my enjoyment I don’t think however rereading and looking at the bleak vision of the world Beckett presented, and his interpretation on the human psyche and the futility of what man can become, it is really interesting. It was much better on reread and I saw a lot more in the play, but due to how limited it is in length and what it offers I still feel like it doesn’t deserve a particularly high rating, just a significant improvement on what it was a year ago. 

Studying Beckett is brilliant, the works themselves not quite so much, and I think that given Beckett’s attitudes towards reinterpretation of his works he would absolutely hate that sadly.