Lisa Dwan

No Samuel Beckett play is set in stone

As his theatrical notebooks show, Beckett was the least rigid of playwrights, constantly distilling, clarifying and adapting the text to individual actors and venues

Samuel Beckett and Martin Held rehearse Krapp’s Last Tape in Berlin’s Schiller Theater in 1969, a production Beckett himself directed. {Getty Images}

  • The Theatrical Notebooks of Samuel Beckett: Krapp’s Last Tape

    James Knowlson

    Faber, pp. 320, £40

  • The Shorter Plays

    S.E. Gontarski

    Faber, pp. 512, £40

Already a subscriber? Log in

This article is for subscribers only

Get a free bottle of Johnnie Walker Black Label when you subscribe to The Spectator for just £12 in our Black Friday sale

  • Free bottle of Johnnie Walker Black Label whisky, worth £30
  • Unlimited access to our website and app
  • Enjoy Spectator newsletters and podcasts
  • Explore our online archive, going back to 1828

Read next

Trending

Also in Book Reviews

From the Magazine

Latest

Comments

Black Friday sale: Get 10 weeks for just $1

Unlimited access to the The Spectator, online and via the app

Already a subscriber? Log in