3 short plays deliver bleak Beckett

Samuel Beckett scares me.

I used to think it was because I didn't understand a word he said.

But lately I've come to think it's because he writes about lives that are not well lived; his bleak view of what happens when we do not pay attention.

The Rogue Theatre's Beckett mini-fest lays out, in a most disturbing and moving way, just how bleak.

The three short plays make for a provocative evening, not just because of Beckett's powerful poetry, but because of the Rogue's powerful production.

The longest of the three, "Krapp's Last Tape," features Joseph McGrath as the aging, clownish Krapp (and we're pretty sure Beckett intended that double entendre). It opens with a scruffy Krapp, in oversized white ankle boots, too-short trousers, a grimy shirt and waistcoat, sitting at a desk.

For the first several moments, we watch as Krapp, in silence, consults notes written on the back of a crumpled envelope, prowls through drawers to find bananas, and leaves the stage several times to grab a drink (we hear the pop of a cork each time).

It's almost vaudevillian, with those oversized white boots; the slow, almost sensual eating of bananas and the near fall on the banana skin; the shuffling of his feet; and disoriented state of dress.

It is Krapp's 69th birthday, and he is preparing, as he does every year on his birthday, to record the highlights of his year. But first, a few moments with his younger self, via the tapes. He was an arrogant man, we learn as we listen to Krapp's tape made on his 39th birthday.

His mother died that year, but it is the hard, black ball he was tossing to a dog that seems more real to him. Younger Krapp seems to get that his drinking is excessive, though clearly it has not changed. He once loved, but that no longer seems to be true.

Krapp is not impressed with who he was. "Just been listening to that stupid bastard I took myself to be 30 years ago," he says with distaste in his new recording. "Hard to believe I was ever as bad as that."

But, as it turns out, Krapp has little to say about the year that just finished. "Ah, finish your booze now and get to your bed," he says with a bit of resignation. "Go on with this drivel in the morning. Or leave it at that."

Krapp longs to stop and start his life the way he does the tape. He catalogs, moves things around, judges, all in an attempt to make some sense of his life - or, perhaps, to prove he has had life.

Director David Morden follows Beckett's stage directions carefully, and McGrath makes the old man as painful and pitiful as, we suspect, Beckett intended. It's 50 minutes that will keep you transfixed, and leave you questioning what you have done with your own life.

The other two plays are both full of the same poetry and the same line of questioning - how well, how deeply, are we living?

"Act Without Words" features Patty Gallagher in the wordless piece (OK, she said one word, "Oh," when she was tossed onstage). Gallagher doesn't need words - her face speaks volumes.

In this pantomime piece, the character is offered things by the universe - water, a rope to hang herself, a tree for shade - and quickly withdraws them before she is able to sip, hang, sit. The story, in the end, addresses the futility of it all, the final resignation that you must make what you will of your life; the universe isn't going to help.

Rogue's third piece in the Beckett plays, "Not I," is short (20 minutes), but just as disturbing. We only see red lips as they talk, talk, talk. A shrouded figure stands off to the side, silent, listening. It's a long stream of consciousness during which the mouth (given force and some fear by Cynthia Meier), finally unleashes words after a lifetime of not speaking. Still, the word "I" is absent from the rant. Almost as though she speaks but takes no responsibility.

Rogue's thoughtful production of these three plays is prefaced with works by Bartók, arranged by Harlan Hokin. Don't miss these, even if you aren't a fan of Bartók (these are unlike his atonal works). The short pieces are tinged with folk music and lend context to Beckett, a fan of the composer.

Review

Short plays by Samuel Beckett: "Krapp's Last Tape," "Not I" and "Act Without Words."

• Presented by: The Rogue Theatre.

• Director: David Morden.

• When: 7:30 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays; 2 p.m. Sundays, through March 14.

• Where: The Rogue Theatre, 300 E. University Blvd., in the Historic Y.

• Tickets: $24. Thursday is "pay-what-you-will" night.

• Reservations/ information: www.theroguetheatre.org or at 551-2053.

• Running time: 2 hours, including one intermission.

Contact reporter Kathleen Allen at kallen@azstarnet.com or 573-4128.