Theatre Review: Krapp's Last Tape, The Basement

Edward Newborn in Krapp's Last Tape. Photo / Supplied

It is not unusual for four or five years to slip by without a single professional production of Beckett - but suddenly his work is everywhere.

In July, there was the Ian McKellen production of Waiting for Godot that set the Wellington theatre world alight. More recently, Robyn Malcolm delivered a star turn in Happy Days, and now at the Basement's intimate studio theatre we have Krapp's Last Tape.

It may be serendipity, or perhaps the bursting of the financial bubble has made us more appreciative of Beckett's bleak brilliance. Whatever the case, we can be grateful for a superb piece of theatre which packs more punch into its 40 minutes than plays three times the length.

The show opens with an isolated, world-weary old man listening to a taped appraisal of his life that he recorded decades earlier. This already potent device is given added resonance by the knowledge that the actor Edward Newborn is listening to the actual tape he made 15 years ago for a Theatre Corporate production of the same play.

Beckett sets up an existential battle between the young man's earnest, sometimes pompous optimism and the resigned cynicism of an old man who has rejected all attempts to find meaning and snatches what pleasure he can by revelling in the sound of certain words.

The older Krapp has nothing but contempt for his younger self and irritably fast-forwards the tape at a crucial moment when there is an attempt to describe a momentous spiritual revelation.

But with great subtlety Newborn evokes a gnawing suspicion that the younger man was right - that he once held something precious which now is lost. This impression is reinforced as the old man replays a section of the tape and listens transfixed to one of the most lyrical pieces of dramatic speech I have heard in long time.

Much has been made of Beckett's unflinching courage in facing a meaningless existence but for me, what makes his work so engrossing is the unresolved tension between affirmation and denial. And this production seems to be gently tilted towards affirming the value of spiritual experience.

What: Krapp's Last Tape
Where: The Basement
When: Until 10 October