A skull with a cigarette between its clenched teeth neatly encapsulates this rather brilliant comic meditation on life, underachievement and the fact we are all edging closer to death.
Krapp is inspired and haunted somewhat by Samuel Beckett’s Krapp’s Last Tape. Michael Laurence’s one-man show presents an actor approaching his 39th birthday with mounting dread. Reviewing his life so far, Laurence sardonically ticks off the things he shares with Krapp - ailments, a drink problem, a tendency towards depression - until he catches a glimpse of himself and mournfully wails: “I look like Krapp.”
But this is no mere parody and the warmth and self-deprecating humour which Laurence brings to the role (his reading from a book on Northern Irish accents is a gem) makes us root for his character and situation, and lets us fervently hope that he is in far better shape than old Krapp in 30 years’ time.
This is a technically accomplished piece. Laurence makes entertaining use of modern recording devices, which he juxtaposes with a poignant script that is resplendent with lines such as: “A life of days flipped away like quarters at an arcade.”
Production information can change over the run of the show.
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