Krapp's Last Tape

A Review of Krapp's Last Tape at The Crucible's Studio Theatre.

Richard Wilson donned an oversized grubby cardi to take on the title role in Samuel’s Beckett one man show, ‘Krapp’s Last Tape’ staged at the Crucible.

Wilson managed to deliver the 45 min performance without me once uttering the words ‘I don’t believe it’. Ok, maybe I said it once, to capitalise on the humour of the moment when Krapp throws a banana out into what Brecht called ‘the fourth wall’. To you and I, that is the audience; specifically a lovely lady with a well cut bob.

Wilson managed to conjure enough nostalgia to have the audience lamenting their misspent youth and questioning the life changing decisions they may or may not have made. Much has been made of the acoustic quality of the den; Wilson’s haunting 39 year old voice billowing out into the audience as a contrast to the crisp quality of his current 69 year old self; and the performance symbolised an experimental era in sound technology.   In fact, it was this auditory narrative that was relied on to propel the play, as the rotating set dwarfed Wilson; a metaphor of his isolation from the rest of the world.

Teela Clayton