Rebecca and I started by reading through the script a couple of times. We talked about the character of Krapp. We decided he was quite a lonely and sad person because he recorded tapes of himself. There could have been a reason for this: he could have lost a loved one, he could have experienced something tragic which made him notice the little detail in life, he could have made a big mistake in something so now he anticipates more etc. We focused on the first main bit of stage directions.

When Krapp treads on the banana skin he unconsciously threw in front of him it is meant to be black humour. Though we know that if we were in the position of Krapp we would not find it funny, we would find it irritating. Hence, Krapp kicks the peel out of the way and carries on pacing. The black humour creates anticipation from the audience because they would be quite bored with the performance; Krapp is not doing anything interesting, although the audience could be interested by Krapp’s bizarre actions.

I think Krapp took unusual actions because to him it does not matter and there is no one there to tell him what to do. He is not bothered about his external appearance and appears unshaven, wearing rusty black narrow trousers too short for him and a sleeveless waistcoat. He has a pair of ‘dirty white boots, size ten at least, very narrow and pointed’. If we were to use the description given in the stage directions it would have made our performance more realistic and bring out Krapp’s character.

As Krapp stands up to get round the desk to get to his drawer he would need support from something to maintain his balance. To do this Rebecca held on to the table, shaking. Krapp withdraws a banana from his second drawer and caref

Some topics in this essay:
Samuel Beckett, Hence Krapp, Krapp’s Tape, stage directions, white light, rebecca staring vacuously, staring vacuously, peeling banana, krapp’s character, black humour, rebecca staring,