@159Jamz they're funeral urns. And I think, maybe, it's supposed to be ash. They're dead, right, in purgatory, for their sins. Hence the repetition, I guess, symbolising eternity.
Such a play... The grinding repetition and buzzing, dissonant monologues force the listener away from the particular, towards the abstract. A search for meaning beyond the little meanings that make up life; a picture of incomplete solipsism, the half-conversations blending into white noise.
Impossible not to wax pretentious... But then, little profound was ever said while fearing pretension!
I love this play. To death. The words they say are hard to hear, but if you listen in really closely, you hear a wonderful story about a man, his wife, and his mistress. My favorite one-act play of all time.
@Malaxaphobia Part 2 is pretty much a repeat of part 1. At first, it is difficult to understand why they are all repeating the same thing, but when you see the ending, you see that they are doomed to repeat it over and over through all eternity.
Beckett creates a kind of 'void' as an escape from 'the self'. He allows us to visit this no-man's land of words so that we can experience what it's like to be on the threshold of meaning or indeed the lack of it. It is often as unsettling as it is amusing.
Comments left on YouTube and Twitter are not too dissimilar to Beckett's own prose in 'Play'. It proves how ahead of his time Beckett truly was.
@rontomcol Please don't say "Beckett definitely meant this" unless you know for certain what Beckett's intentions truly were. I personally don't think Beckett is best described as being "ahead of his time" just because his message lacks clarity. Most comments on YouTube and Twitter lack linguistic clarity because they are written by those who care little for grammar and punctuation; to draw parallels between Twitter and Beckett sounds more like a criticism than a compliment.
@rabadooda haha, you sound every inch the frustrated English teacher desperate to circle and underline my YouTube comment in red pen!! Go on - get it out of your system and mark some more homework if you have to.
@rabadooda Either that or you are showing a lack of imagination. It's too easy to think "Twitter bad, Beckett Good" the only reason why people think that is because they have not yet thought of a way in which the 140 characters can be creative and beautiful. Also they didn't say "Beckett definitely means this". @rontomcol 's interpretation of a wasteland of words while it's not the only way of seeing it it is a perfectly valid one and can be seen thought out all of Beckett's works
@emmahouli :-) thanks for this - have you read Beckett's poetry?
'my way is in the sand flowing
between the shingle and the dune...
my peace is there in the receding mist
when I may cease from treading these long shifting thresholds
and live the space of a door
that opens and shuts'
It was this that made me think of the 'wasteland of words' as you describe. I think the 'peace' the speaker of the poem finds in the 'receding mist' is crucial when interpreting Beckett's other works, e.g. Play
@emmahouli yeah, sounds like you could do with a break from Beckett. How about Brecht?! ;-) Actually, I was reading Baal the other day and it reminded me a bit of Beckett. It has the same wit and lyricism.
'But Teddy, he was a hard worker. Teddy was generous. Teddy was friendly. One thing is certain: Teddy was.'
Brilliant!!! A perfect example of existentialism and the absurd. Life is absurd sometimes. The botched affair depicted is crushing and monotonous. The point was made perfectly. Terrific direction and editing!!!
Sadly, this isn't on-par with all the bullshit people like these days.
Sadly, theater of the absurd can be found on You Tube's front page.
Sadly, theater of the wasted can be found on You Tube's front page.
You guys who are saying the conversation is to fast and confusing are idiots...it's ment to be that way so that you have to watch it more than once and pay close attention if you want to get the meaning and story out of it. This is an amazing piece and Beckett is a genius. Sorry to you illiterate people who don't know how to understand it.
the director obviously put more effort in putting make up on the actors than to choose a good script. jeezes, this piece of crap really sucks terribly ass!
@Fred1102 you are a stupid illiterate fucking idiot. end your life you waste of space. if you had any inkling of what talent or depth was it would surprise me. seriously, die.
@nickzor0704 guy really can it be a bit more polite please!? it's not because you don't know who i am that you have to say such things. anyway, i actually do exactly the same :) respect, you motherfucker!! :DDD
the director of this movie clip really did a major failure. i mean, how can one follow those conversations? and i didn't even enjoy it, it's so confusing and stressful. really, that director should commit suicide, unless he will look for another job. really, what an asshole
@Fred1102 exactly. it's supposed to be spoken at such a pace that you can't follow it. it's not the director, it's Beckett's writing. he writes about bizarre aspects, and makes them so that you have to actually follow along.
@Fred1102 WOW i really didn't think it possible but you have completely and catagorically missed the point of EVERYTHING you have just seen! Beckett wrote 'Play' in such a way so as that you COULDN'T understand it. It is intentionally confusing and stressful. If Mighella had changed it so as to make it understandable and easy to watch then he may as well have just written it himself and ignored Beckett completely. As it is however he managed to capture the very essence of 'Play' beautifully.
@Fred1102 I LIKE THIS COMMENT! I loved the play, but the absurdist did his job if he made you feel something even if it was hatred. Much like 2001 a Space Odyssey, it's not always supposed to make sense. However, if you listen closely, you get a very rich connection between the three. It's thrilling. :)
This is probably the best description of obsessive thought I have ever found. The thought that these meaningless trials should be your own purgatory. Each of us forever reliving our heartbreak or otherwise over and over and over and over. I love the alliteration...it almost sounds like music or a chant...brilliant. Fantastic imaging and cinematography.
fair comment, but I like it, its very female, it works, not actually got a copy of the original script, but Beckett was very strict on his stage direction, can't say if its original or the actors addition...
the more times i watch this the more minutae of the characters i see, just witnessed his facial quirk, expression after one of the females says, my first thought was one of wonderment,.., what a male!!
i think the comment regarding "personally i prefer liptoms" utters volumes, to me it says, he dosnt begin to comprehend the mental anguish he has put the others through and that to him the affair and interplay of the three of them isnt all consuming to him, that this is just an inconvienence for him with in the myriad elements of his life.
my un-educated guess is that they are memories; particularly the kind of memories that revisit lost: love/hate/bitterness - constantly nagging the mind. The speed seems to represent the minds ability to review such events quickly. The repetition is what we do - especially when depressed. Ill be doing my homework on this soon - cant wait to figure it out=) Sam may just replace Shakespeare on my list...
This is unbelieveably brilliant. I can't think of better actors to do this. The raw sensations of this are amazing. It is so awesome that it's meant to be done twice. It makes so much more sense the second time.
The 2nd part is the same as the 1st part, after 'All night I smelt them smouldering' -black out- then there talking about the present instead of the past
My god that's brilliant. The ending is really amazing in particular. And aren't there a few textual differences, or was that just me? E.g. "Adulterers never confess" part one vs. "adulterers never admit" part 2?
Either way this is absolutely amazing. I love beckett.
May some one please explain this video. I like it very much but I could not help to notice that the first and second parts of the play are the same. I have studied Beckett before and I understand that his major themes revolve around the circular path life takes, and that we confuse as actual advancement in our lives. So may some one please give me their perception on what this play is about. EXTREMELY INTRUIGING!
In the script of Play at the end of the "first part" the stage directions say "Repeat Play" then after the first part was repeated there's a special ending. :] I love Beckett
Beckett only wrote the first part, but added 'Repeat play' at the end. They are in funeral urns and seem to be somewhat decayed. To me--this is just my opinion--they are in a cyclical hell in which they are ceaselessly confessing their sins about the affair to us. You might want to lookup some more about it because I think there's more to it than this :).
the characters were having an affair in life and now there condemmed to talk the most painful period in their life over and over again in purgatory, the first part is about their past life and the second half is about were they are now
This is a great piece of Samuel Becket's work. This is the second time of studying his work in the Theatre department. I am now reading Endgame and I notice the similarities in his play and how true he is to people.
kalikopa is crazy. The lens hunting noise is so right in the film of this play, as it takes the place of the spotlight specified in the stage directions. Beckett intended the spotlight to be personified as a fourth character; as the light commands when they speak. The noise is perfect, and so is the editing - I'm sure Beckett would approve.
it's supposed to repeat on and on. it may look like the first part, because it is, but it never ends. these characters are supposed to be in purgatory.
Wow that was amazing! thanks HMR for this post. I started to get irritated by the inclusion of the noise made by the lens hunting - but got over that and yep that's beautiful little thing there,
fantastic, i've wanted to see this again ever since it appeared on PBS a few years ago. such creativity in the way it displays the love triangle and the view of self importance. great stuff!
So much better than 'Film' he actually captures the human condition much clearer in 'Play' and really strikes a chord with the subconcious I guess we must all be self obsessed nutters.
Actually "film" and "play" are foils and interesting contrasts from one another. "Film" shows someone who's trying to escape from the view of others, but who ultimately can't escape from his self-perception. Play is the opposite-a fight to be recognized. It has to do with the difference between point of view when watching a film vs. a play. In a play there is more of a fight to gain the attention of the audience but in a film our POV is predetermined...
we are crooked melancholy puppets and all we do is "Play", and no secret: we are living on our own graveyards. I agree with Freud we are all "trash" no matter what hierachy we fit in
They are dead... man in the middle was married to the woman on the right but he was cheating with the woman on the left. After death, they are "cursed" by repetitively speaking of their side of the story.
hey im writing a research paper on samuel becket how do u know wat u know? its very intresting my teacher was telling me that the play in a way depicts WW2 due to its random chaotic state as in who what why. some of the questions people asked about y were were over seas fighting. if u have any info please share so i can understand this more plz and thanks.
@Cian2e i really wouldn't be proud to be irish with this piece of crap, seriously. be proud to guiness or the protestant/catholic conflict, but for christ sake not at this. on the contrary, you should be ashamed
@Fred1102 Are you being serious? This work, although unusual and in defiance of dramatic convention, is ingenious. Beckett understood the complexity of human interaction in a unique way and gracefully captured it in works such as this one. I don't understand your opinion, to be honest. Also, why would I be proud of the Catholic-Protestant conflict? Primeval conflict is something to be ashamed of, whereas this dramatic gem isn't.
@Cian2e@Cian2e i really wouldn't be proud to be irish with this piece of crap, seriously. be proud to guiness or the protestant/catholic conflict, but for christ sake not at this. on the contrary, you should be ashamed
From purgatory - there's some clues that suggest that they (all three) are dead. And are reliving over and over what lead up to a possible triple murder.
I'm sure it was all at Minghella's direction. I've read the play, I studied it in university, I understand he had some very firm directions. But that's the wonder of plays: the play itself are but words, and are MADE to be interpreted by directors.
Beckett is long gone. I'm sure he'd appreciate the gesture.
Well ok? there's no need to point out my mistakes, Im still a kid, I'm studying this at school, why would they be teaching us stuff that's not correct??
Well ok? there's no need to point out my mistakes, Im still a kid, I'm studying this at school, why would they be teaching us stuff that's not correct??
I feel this is quite true to the stage directions- I agree that much of Beckett requires his strict intentions- although I think this is very well put to the screen. I imagine part of the challenge of this project was to "interpret" as is needed in taking theatre to film.
JrWofulrabbit- That's a slight contradiction, Making it your own IS interpreting it. I'm a playwright and expect my work to be re-imagined by directors and actors. It's just how it works. If plays are interpreted differently and as you said made their own, then plays wil stagnate. Beckett contributed a lot to theatre (though I have to say he's at the very bottom of my favourite practitioners list!), but once written, a playwright cannot be over protective of their work. Its not how its done
Actually not even close to the stage directions. Script actually calls for the close up (or spotlight in the case of the stage) to first be on the speaker, but once repeated the close up/spotlight is not to be on the face of the speaker.
I suppose that when your only stage direction is to blurt the lines as fast as you can, there is no need for an actor to interpret...
Probably the best adaptation in a project of very questionable results but the stiff and frontal camera angle and the stillness of the performers heads are fundamental in Beckett's post-mortal universe
ha! crazyoldcatlady - the hiccoughs are written into the script. Effective, no? Good writing on the part of Beckett and wonderful acting on the part of dear old Alan.
I love it when they speak toneless :).. It makes it harder to understand and you have to think about it ! The whole idea behind this kind of plays, to think about it, and leave more questions when it's done .
i would like to see these three do "Play" on a stage-- their acting (given Beckett's instructions to be rapid and toneless) is perfect, but the end result of the film is very Battlefield Earth, in terms of production values. And I think a spotlight would definitely work better than a series of jump cuts in conveying an "inquisitor" feel.
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rickman do die hard or harry potter - let jeremy irons +others who take beckett more to heart interpret beckett. actually there's a well-acted color-film vid of "what where" on youtube- beats the shit out of this vid of "play."
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becketts' awesome, but this production of his work on film - in the vid - is not. its not wonderful, not well acted, just skimmed through rather quickly as anyone who doesn't understand beckett would do. at least there could even be texture+variety to their overly similar turbo-paced, flat, unfelt line readings. unMysterious.
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the idea is to make beckett's surreal+unreal real, not to pile unreal line delivery, mannerisms, etc., on top of whats already absurd (because that wears the absurd out +makes it lose any meaning), but real acting to make you buy that the absurd is true. (cont'd to 3rd part of comment)
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their rushed, single-minded one kind of speech rhythm doesn't seem natural or believable, they dont sound like they mean or believe their lines, their performances are a non-interpretation of beckett (or of anything). i know beckett's mocking the futility of communication but the actors' delivery mocks the notion that their absurd predicament is real. (cont'd)
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bs. this filmed production is style over substance. i dont like the acting at all. jeremy irons in "ohio impromptu," buster keaton in beckett's "film" - that's the beckett spirit - this clip is more makeup, photography, production design and editing than it is acting. beckett is the minimalistic essence of acting. i wouldn't mind filmed +edited in color, but i've never seen a good or even decent color-filmed version of beckett, inc. this +esp. all filmed versions of "waiting for godot."
dont suppose anyone has got the original Billie Whitelaw 'Not I'? After the performance she asked him what he thought, Beckett replied; "miraculous". So if it's good enough for the big man....
Thanks for posting this. Delightful how such literary locutions as "judge then of my astonishment" flavor the hellish script, Beckett's sublation of his Sartre's 'No Exit'.
love it love it love it! i just recently played woman 2 in my A level drama exam, we went through the script that many times i pretty much know everyone elses lines as well now! thanks for posting! :)
Wooow.. I was LOST AT FIRST.
valena143 1 week ago
I doubt it.
Misantropist 1 month ago
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a good film to watch on ecstasy pills.
villiparis 4 months ago
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villiparis 4 months ago
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This is too deep....
ImAnotherZang 8 months ago
i like this better than endgame...
skore15 10 months ago
wait y they inside pots of mudd O.0
159Jamz 10 months ago
@159Jamz they're funeral urns. And I think, maybe, it's supposed to be ash. They're dead, right, in purgatory, for their sins. Hence the repetition, I guess, symbolising eternity.
jamesgowdy 10 months ago
Such a play... The grinding repetition and buzzing, dissonant monologues force the listener away from the particular, towards the abstract. A search for meaning beyond the little meanings that make up life; a picture of incomplete solipsism, the half-conversations blending into white noise.
Impossible not to wax pretentious... But then, little profound was ever said while fearing pretension!
Epistemofo 10 months ago
Indeed it is twittter.
MrBruneldino 11 months ago
I love this play. To death. The words they say are hard to hear, but if you listen in really closely, you hear a wonderful story about a man, his wife, and his mistress. My favorite one-act play of all time.
RyuKetsueki1213 11 months ago
i am confused, isnt part one and part 2 the same?
Malaxaphobia 11 months ago
@Malaxaphobia Part 2 is pretty much a repeat of part 1. At first, it is difficult to understand why they are all repeating the same thing, but when you see the ending, you see that they are doomed to repeat it over and over through all eternity.
RyuKetsueki1213 11 months ago
Thank you for sharing this. Brilliant! Who's the woman on the left? The other one is Juliet Stevenson?
ThePurpleBus 11 months ago
@ThePurpleBus Kristin Scott Thomas
chuniluni 10 months ago
@ThePurpleBus Kristin Scott Thomas is the woman on the left, the woman on the right is Juliet Stevenson and the man is Alan Rickman
chuniluni 10 months ago
pause at 1:29 ... Alan's so fucking awesome
TotallyTscopeTV 1 year ago
Beckett creates a kind of 'void' as an escape from 'the self'. He allows us to visit this no-man's land of words so that we can experience what it's like to be on the threshold of meaning or indeed the lack of it. It is often as unsettling as it is amusing.
Comments left on YouTube and Twitter are not too dissimilar to Beckett's own prose in 'Play'. It proves how ahead of his time Beckett truly was.
rontomcol 1 year ago 2
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rabadooda 10 months ago
@rontomcol Please don't say "Beckett definitely meant this" unless you know for certain what Beckett's intentions truly were. I personally don't think Beckett is best described as being "ahead of his time" just because his message lacks clarity. Most comments on YouTube and Twitter lack linguistic clarity because they are written by those who care little for grammar and punctuation; to draw parallels between Twitter and Beckett sounds more like a criticism than a compliment.
rabadooda 10 months ago
@rabadooda haha, you sound every inch the frustrated English teacher desperate to circle and underline my YouTube comment in red pen!! Go on - get it out of your system and mark some more homework if you have to.
rontomcol 9 months ago
@rabadooda Either that or you are showing a lack of imagination. It's too easy to think "Twitter bad, Beckett Good" the only reason why people think that is because they have not yet thought of a way in which the 140 characters can be creative and beautiful. Also they didn't say "Beckett definitely means this". @rontomcol 's interpretation of a wasteland of words while it's not the only way of seeing it it is a perfectly valid one and can be seen thought out all of Beckett's works
emmahouli 9 months ago
@emmahouli :-) thanks for this - have you read Beckett's poetry?
'my way is in the sand flowing
between the shingle and the dune...
my peace is there in the receding mist
when I may cease from treading these long shifting thresholds
and live the space of a door
that opens and shuts'
It was this that made me think of the 'wasteland of words' as you describe. I think the 'peace' the speaker of the poem finds in the 'receding mist' is crucial when interpreting Beckett's other works, e.g. Play
rontomcol 9 months ago
@rontomcol Ha no bother, I was actually writing a paper on Beckett and social media when I saw your comment and had to jump in...
No actually I haven't read anything other than his plays but I only have a handful of them left to read and then I need a break i'd say =)
emmahouli 9 months ago
@emmahouli yeah, sounds like you could do with a break from Beckett. How about Brecht?! ;-) Actually, I was reading Baal the other day and it reminded me a bit of Beckett. It has the same wit and lyricism.
'But Teddy, he was a hard worker. Teddy was generous. Teddy was friendly. One thing is certain: Teddy was.'
:-)) Good luck with your paper.
rontomcol 9 months ago
Brilliant!!! A perfect example of existentialism and the absurd. Life is absurd sometimes. The botched affair depicted is crushing and monotonous. The point was made perfectly. Terrific direction and editing!!!
Sadly, this isn't on-par with all the bullshit people like these days.
Sadly, theater of the absurd can be found on You Tube's front page.
Sadly, theater of the wasted can be found on You Tube's front page.
Great share!
Have a nice egoistical life, -b- KCMO
b1aflatoxin 1 year ago
Is this not part 1?
Page27music 1 year ago
@Page27music That's the trick of it! It might help to know that at the end of 'part one', there is a direction which states: Repeat play.
All the drama students I know count that as the best stage direction ever written.
elemmir 1 year ago
This is the most haunting play I have ever seen
BlinkMe182222 1 year ago
Fantastic!!!
yourturntorollit 1 year ago
"Am I as much as.... being seen?"
gpeddino 1 year ago
You guys who are saying the conversation is to fast and confusing are idiots...it's ment to be that way so that you have to watch it more than once and pay close attention if you want to get the meaning and story out of it. This is an amazing piece and Beckett is a genius. Sorry to you illiterate people who don't know how to understand it.
garrasir 1 year ago
I love how it repeats.
progrockcoffee 1 year ago
This is directed incredibly well. Brilliant.
TooLateTooTired 1 year ago
"hiccup" Pardon, so help me God" Continues with his story. . . LOL
askjiir 1 year ago
the director obviously put more effort in putting make up on the actors than to choose a good script. jeezes, this piece of crap really sucks terribly ass!
Fred1102 1 year ago
@Fred1102 you are a stupid illiterate fucking idiot. end your life you waste of space. if you had any inkling of what talent or depth was it would surprise me. seriously, die.
nickzor0704 1 year ago
@nickzor0704 guy really can it be a bit more polite please!? it's not because you don't know who i am that you have to say such things. anyway, i actually do exactly the same :) respect, you motherfucker!! :DDD
Fred1102 1 year ago
the director of this movie clip really did a major failure. i mean, how can one follow those conversations? and i didn't even enjoy it, it's so confusing and stressful. really, that director should commit suicide, unless he will look for another job. really, what an asshole
Fred1102 1 year ago
@Fred1102 exactly. it's supposed to be spoken at such a pace that you can't follow it. it's not the director, it's Beckett's writing. he writes about bizarre aspects, and makes them so that you have to actually follow along.
bwayguy17 1 year ago
@Fred1102 WOW i really didn't think it possible but you have completely and catagorically missed the point of EVERYTHING you have just seen! Beckett wrote 'Play' in such a way so as that you COULDN'T understand it. It is intentionally confusing and stressful. If Mighella had changed it so as to make it understandable and easy to watch then he may as well have just written it himself and ignored Beckett completely. As it is however he managed to capture the very essence of 'Play' beautifully.
DeadKennedy08 1 year ago 3
@Fred1102 I LIKE THIS COMMENT! I loved the play, but the absurdist did his job if he made you feel something even if it was hatred. Much like 2001 a Space Odyssey, it's not always supposed to make sense. However, if you listen closely, you get a very rich connection between the three. It's thrilling. :)
darrinpipe 1 year ago
suffering from identity crisis or is it just the crisis of identity that we suffer from?
kutthroat84 1 year ago
This is brilliant !!!
The actors are amazing!
♥ love Alan Rickman ♥
TakeMyBreathJax 1 year ago
the ending is goog the rest is like on titan
ralerajko 1 year ago
I notice that this part has less than half as many views as the first part. This part is equally as important, probably more so!
oliviathefolkie 1 year ago
just amazing!
dnlsc8 1 year ago
This is probably the best description of obsessive thought I have ever found. The thought that these meaningless trials should be your own purgatory. Each of us forever reliving our heartbreak or otherwise over and over and over and over. I love the alliteration...it almost sounds like music or a chant...brilliant. Fantastic imaging and cinematography.
AnotherID0001 1 year ago
Feeling I get when watching Becket. It makes so much sense, but I feel like I'm going crazy while reading or watching it.
Rasulis 1 year ago
@Rasulis That's exactly it. It's like being drunk or something, everything makes sense and at the same time, it doesn't.
tsouihousha 1 year ago
oh wow tht was amazing
cooldudeman14 1 year ago
Totally amazing work the man was brilliant xx
DDBBist 1 year ago
I love absurdist theatre you understand but cannot explain it...it's like being insane...
08eks 1 year ago 35
@08eks I agree with you there, we studied Not I today, the dscussion afterwards was very intreaguing.
kibainuzuka2931 1 year ago
@08eks
Dick fucker
frightan 1 year ago
@frightan excuse me but that was a little mean and uncalled for. And also, how does that have anything to do with my comment?
08eks 1 year ago
@08eks I do not think so with all respect. It it quite realistic, quite sane, unfortunately.
thaddeuslowe 9 months ago 3
Surely it's sped up a bit?
ponkalulu 1 year ago
"Is it something I should do with my face, other than utter? Weep?"
That slight cocking of the head. Perfect.
A masterpiece.
Thanks for posting this.
MissGuideMe 2 years ago 21
@MissGuideMe Nah, the head-cock is a little too precious if you ask me. I'd rather see the script lead the actor than the other way round.
tpmableful 1 year ago
fair comment, but I like it, its very female, it works, not actually got a copy of the original script, but Beckett was very strict on his stage direction, can't say if its original or the actors addition...
MissGuideMe 1 year ago 2
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azimmerali 2 years ago
woooaaa
Tsukinokato 2 years ago
What a marvelous view of purgatory. The clay jars extending to the horizon all with a torrid story to tell.. just wonderful.
PaleHearse 2 years ago
Yes; what a marvelous mirror upon ourselves.
thomasrusso 2 years ago
pro..fess..ional..comm.. IT ..ments. this play grows more and more wonderful
bryngOneOn 2 years ago
the more times i watch this the more minutae of the characters i see, just witnessed his facial quirk, expression after one of the females says, my first thought was one of wonderment,.., what a male!!
bryngOneOn 2 years ago
i think the comment regarding "personally i prefer liptoms" utters volumes, to me it says, he dosnt begin to comprehend the mental anguish he has put the others through and that to him the affair and interplay of the three of them isnt all consuming to him, that this is just an inconvienence for him with in the myriad elements of his life.
bryngOneOn 2 years ago
my un-educated guess is that they are memories; particularly the kind of memories that revisit lost: love/hate/bitterness - constantly nagging the mind. The speed seems to represent the minds ability to review such events quickly. The repetition is what we do - especially when depressed. Ill be doing my homework on this soon - cant wait to figure it out=) Sam may just replace Shakespeare on my list...
nightmindr 2 years ago 5
the speed in which they are saying those lines is trully amazing. what memorization!
vkyrojas 2 years ago
This is unbelieveably brilliant. I can't think of better actors to do this. The raw sensations of this are amazing. It is so awesome that it's meant to be done twice. It makes so much more sense the second time.
delusionaldiminutive 2 years ago 4
fantastic!!! It's the first work of his I've seen and I love it.
coolbeansrule 2 years ago 3
The 2nd part is the same as the 1st part, after 'All night I smelt them smouldering' -black out- then there talking about the present instead of the past
villiparis 2 years ago
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poor old sam. This is what happend when you spend too much time alone.
notandywarhol 2 years ago
My god that's brilliant. The ending is really amazing in particular. And aren't there a few textual differences, or was that just me? E.g. "Adulterers never confess" part one vs. "adulterers never admit" part 2?
Either way this is absolutely amazing. I love beckett.
CeruleanRondo 2 years ago 2
God I LOVE doing speed-through rehearsals!
pussytoes7 2 years ago
yh imagine doing a speed through rehersal of this!
someonecalleddean 2 years ago 2
genius!!!
herminnah 2 years ago 3
Is this the same as the first one?
Malaxaphobia 2 years ago
May some one please explain this video. I like it very much but I could not help to notice that the first and second parts of the play are the same. I have studied Beckett before and I understand that his major themes revolve around the circular path life takes, and that we confuse as actual advancement in our lives. So may some one please give me their perception on what this play is about. EXTREMELY INTRUIGING!
madeasy1 2 years ago
In the script of Play at the end of the "first part" the stage directions say "Repeat Play" then after the first part was repeated there's a special ending. :] I love Beckett
dapokey 2 years ago 2
Beckett only wrote the first part, but added 'Repeat play' at the end. They are in funeral urns and seem to be somewhat decayed. To me--this is just my opinion--they are in a cyclical hell in which they are ceaselessly confessing their sins about the affair to us. You might want to lookup some more about it because I think there's more to it than this :).
wuz352 2 years ago 4
This is so beautiful...!
tumgats 2 years ago
thtas funny cuz it's not saposed to be...
gocaps123 2 years ago
the characters were having an affair in life and now there condemmed to talk the most painful period in their life over and over again in purgatory, the first part is about their past life and the second half is about were they are now
villiparis 2 years ago
how do u define part 2 as where they are now when the dialogue is repeated...
i reallly wanna know what u mean
Bianca53089 2 years ago
I don't really understand this? It's quite interesting but I do not understand. Are they dead and telling you what happened before they died?
I assumed that..because aren't they all in urns?
crackerstackers 2 years ago
This is a great piece of Samuel Becket's work. This is the second time of studying his work in the Theatre department. I am now reading Endgame and I notice the similarities in his play and how true he is to people.
bmkekk17 2 years ago
kalikopa is crazy. The lens hunting noise is so right in the film of this play, as it takes the place of the spotlight specified in the stage directions. Beckett intended the spotlight to be personified as a fourth character; as the light commands when they speak. The noise is perfect, and so is the editing - I'm sure Beckett would approve.
captaintam 2 years ago 3
Maravilhoso, simplismente fantastico...
operakata 2 years ago
This is the part 1, isn't it ?
phonzi 2 years ago
It is part one, but the play calls for many repeats
mewsikal 2 years ago
it's supposed to repeat on and on. it may look like the first part, because it is, but it never ends. these characters are supposed to be in purgatory.
bwayguy17 2 years ago
Samuel Beckett is the greatest writer of all times.
briznaleve 2 years ago 2
Wow that was amazing! thanks HMR for this post. I started to get irritated by the inclusion of the noise made by the lens hunting - but got over that and yep that's beautiful little thing there,
CHEERS
kalikopa 2 years ago
is this the firts part on repeat\??
jamesaellis 2 years ago
what the fuck i actually started smelling ash at one point.
wraith696 2 years ago 2
okay. I'm lost.
timmyshoho 2 years ago
HE STINKS OF BITCH!
hahahah. great line.
broadwayrach93 3 years ago
fantastic, i've wanted to see this again ever since it appeared on PBS a few years ago. such creativity in the way it displays the love triangle and the view of self importance. great stuff!
AquilusDomini 3 years ago
6.43 lol
awesome
pc911bb 3 years ago 2
This is so amazing.
WolfofDreams 3 years ago
i don't get it. does anyone know what it means?
peytunes 3 years ago
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what a load of crap
antistar1000 3 years ago
Krapp. Not crap
fleatheatre 3 years ago 3
very goog. very good!
glenmichaelthomas 2 years ago 2
frickin luddite
glenmichaelthomas 2 years ago
So much better than 'Film' he actually captures the human condition much clearer in 'Play' and really strikes a chord with the subconcious I guess we must all be self obsessed nutters.
greggy6yahoo 3 years ago
Actually "film" and "play" are foils and interesting contrasts from one another. "Film" shows someone who's trying to escape from the view of others, but who ultimately can't escape from his self-perception. Play is the opposite-a fight to be recognized. It has to do with the difference between point of view when watching a film vs. a play. In a play there is more of a fight to gain the attention of the audience but in a film our POV is predetermined...
ab4157 3 years ago
human cognition is based on an absurd world
crazyfool786 3 years ago 2
these commnts are SO much fun 2 read.
Hello :) 41
cg1349 3 years ago
we are crooked melancholy puppets and all we do is "Play", and no secret: we are living on our own graveyards. I agree with Freud we are all "trash" no matter what hierachy we fit in
Octoberpupilla 3 years ago
Welcome to Life ladies and gentle people. This is life, we are in a play, remember Shakesp. Alas
Octoberpupilla 3 years ago
kind of annoying, hard to watch, repeptitive and irritating.
ReiKman 3 years ago
It's repetitive for a reason.
They are dead... man in the middle was married to the woman on the right but he was cheating with the woman on the left. After death, they are "cursed" by repetitively speaking of their side of the story.
Writer4LifeHmu 3 years ago 3
hey im writing a research paper on samuel becket how do u know wat u know? its very intresting my teacher was telling me that the play in a way depicts WW2 due to its random chaotic state as in who what why. some of the questions people asked about y were were over seas fighting. if u have any info please share so i can understand this more plz and thanks.
armydawg1292 3 years ago
You can't simply love this cus it's "different"
I don't want to hear anymore people saying OMG I LOVE SAMUEL BECKETT!
I wanna see actual reasons.
I'll be honest, I don't know what to say about this piece, thusly I don't have a dislike or like.
Fiyero918 3 years ago
i think its just admiring the absured
armydawg1292 3 years ago
NOTE: I meant to say if plays are NOT interprested and as you said made their own, they will stagnate.
Butterfingers missed out a word and completely changed the meaning of the sentence. Language is fantastic. Shame modern society doesn't appreciate it.
txt spk sux! lern propa grama
chimaeraproductions 3 years ago
This makes me proud to be Irish. He was a genius. He was a revolutionary. He was Beckett.
Cian2e 3 years ago 11
@Cian2e i really wouldn't be proud to be irish with this piece of crap, seriously. be proud to guiness or the protestant/catholic conflict, but for christ sake not at this. on the contrary, you should be ashamed
Fred1102 1 year ago
@Fred1102 Are you being serious? This work, although unusual and in defiance of dramatic convention, is ingenious. Beckett understood the complexity of human interaction in a unique way and gracefully captured it in works such as this one. I don't understand your opinion, to be honest. Also, why would I be proud of the Catholic-Protestant conflict? Primeval conflict is something to be ashamed of, whereas this dramatic gem isn't.
Cian2e 1 year ago
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@Cian2e @Cian2e i really wouldn't be proud to be irish with this piece of crap, seriously. be proud to guiness or the protestant/catholic conflict, but for christ sake not at this. on the contrary, you should be ashamed
Fred1102 1 year ago
Beckett is a genius. Is this our collective existential nightmare? "Im I as much as being seen?"
dbvalentine 3 years ago 2
You mean "was".
Cian2e 3 years ago
He is "was" but still "is" if u know what I mean
dbvalentine 3 years ago
uh ho ... now I have gone and put this on favourites ... what have I gone and doooone ....
Rikkyhardo 3 years ago
*brain implodes*
cutcopycat 3 years ago 4
yh i do.. its abt a man.. a wife and a mistress he cheats on with his wife.. they are all giving account of their version of what happend(the affair)
adjoawi 3 years ago
From purgatory - there's some clues that suggest that they (all three) are dead. And are reliving over and over what lead up to a possible triple murder.
angelofmoon 3 years ago
does anyone know what any of this is supposed to mean?
Great film great director
HarpoFitz 3 years ago
Beckett's directions were clear. Whoever did this film must read them again.
fleatheatre 3 years ago
Anthony Minghella directed this.
I'm sure his decisions were fully informed.
It's called interpretation.
easylove87 3 years ago
But Samuel Breckett DIDN'T want the actors to interpritate
JrWofulrabbit 3 years ago
But Samuel Breckett DIDN'T want the actors to interpritate
JrWofulrabbit 3 years ago
interpritate?
Interpret?
I'm sure it was all at Minghella's direction. I've read the play, I studied it in university, I understand he had some very firm directions. But that's the wonder of plays: the play itself are but words, and are MADE to be interpreted by directors.
Beckett is long gone. I'm sure he'd appreciate the gesture.
easylove87 3 years ago
Well ok? there's no need to point out my mistakes, Im still a kid, I'm studying this at school, why would they be teaching us stuff that's not correct??
JrWofulrabbit 3 years ago
Well ok? there's no need to point out my mistakes, Im still a kid, I'm studying this at school, why would they be teaching us stuff that's not correct??
JrWofulrabbit 3 years ago
I feel this is quite true to the stage directions- I agree that much of Beckett requires his strict intentions- although I think this is very well put to the screen. I imagine part of the challenge of this project was to "interpret" as is needed in taking theatre to film.
donniebirthday 3 years ago
Yeah exactly, we watched this clip, but especially for students and it has subtitles that said about 'play' and about beckett.
It said 'Samuel Beckett did not want his actors to interpret his script' or something like that.
He wanted them to take his words, and make them their own...At least I think I'm correct lol
JrWofulrabbit 3 years ago
JrWofulrabbit- That's a slight contradiction, Making it your own IS interpreting it. I'm a playwright and expect my work to be re-imagined by directors and actors. It's just how it works. If plays are interpreted differently and as you said made their own, then plays wil stagnate. Beckett contributed a lot to theatre (though I have to say he's at the very bottom of my favourite practitioners list!), but once written, a playwright cannot be over protective of their work. Its not how its done
chimaeraproductions 3 years ago
Actually not even close to the stage directions. Script actually calls for the close up (or spotlight in the case of the stage) to first be on the speaker, but once repeated the close up/spotlight is not to be on the face of the speaker.
I suppose that when your only stage direction is to blurt the lines as fast as you can, there is no need for an actor to interpret...
Gotta love Beckett.
timetothinkdeep 3 years ago 3
Probably the best adaptation in a project of very questionable results but the stiff and frontal camera angle and the stillness of the performers heads are fundamental in Beckett's post-mortal universe
critics1 4 years ago 4
The other actress is Juliet Stevenson ("Truly, Madly, Deeply" with Alan Rickman).
brojameshayes 4 years ago
i love samuel becketts plays
i'm studying 'endgame' and 'waiting for godot' right now..very confusing but so much fun to do xD
thank you 4 putting this up xx =] xx
leellaXflutterby 4 years ago
a great one...I love it, how it's put in scene,great work
DoriMilas 4 years ago
who are the women in this??
its awsome!
ryno818181 4 years ago
One of them is Kristen Scott Thomas - and the other one could be Emma Thompson... but I'm not sure.
They're both fantastic none-the-less!! :)
cheshirespider 4 years ago
I thought it was Emma Thomson at first as well but it's Juliet Stevenson.
monchapeau 3 years ago
ha! crazyoldcatlady - the hiccoughs are written into the script. Effective, no? Good writing on the part of Beckett and wonderful acting on the part of dear old Alan.
fabala4077 4 years ago
Did alan have the hiccoughs during the play? It certainly sound slike it sometimes.
thecrazyoldcatlady 4 years ago
no its actually apart of the diologue im doing this play right now
rellybaby172k4 4 years ago
I love it when they speak toneless :).. It makes it harder to understand and you have to think about it ! The whole idea behind this kind of plays, to think about it, and leave more questions when it's done .
NicoleMalfoy 4 years ago
I had a fantastic time watching these 2 videos. Thank you for posting them.
Zeething 4 years ago
i would like to see these three do "Play" on a stage-- their acting (given Beckett's instructions to be rapid and toneless) is perfect, but the end result of the film is very Battlefield Earth, in terms of production values. And I think a spotlight would definitely work better than a series of jump cuts in conveying an "inquisitor" feel.
twalsh06 4 years ago
if you read the original, beckett writes: faces impassive throughout. voices toneless except where an expression is indicated. rapid tempo througout.
so I guess the director followed beckets instructions.
philipefaria 4 years ago 2
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rickman do die hard or harry potter - let jeremy irons +others who take beckett more to heart interpret beckett. actually there's a well-acted color-film vid of "what where" on youtube- beats the shit out of this vid of "play."
s4mth16ngstr24nge 4 years ago
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becketts' awesome, but this production of his work on film - in the vid - is not. its not wonderful, not well acted, just skimmed through rather quickly as anyone who doesn't understand beckett would do. at least there could even be texture+variety to their overly similar turbo-paced, flat, unfelt line readings. unMysterious.
s4mth16ngstr24nge 4 years ago
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the idea is to make beckett's surreal+unreal real, not to pile unreal line delivery, mannerisms, etc., on top of whats already absurd (because that wears the absurd out +makes it lose any meaning), but real acting to make you buy that the absurd is true. (cont'd to 3rd part of comment)
s4mth16ngstr24nge 4 years ago
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their rushed, single-minded one kind of speech rhythm doesn't seem natural or believable, they dont sound like they mean or believe their lines, their performances are a non-interpretation of beckett (or of anything). i know beckett's mocking the futility of communication but the actors' delivery mocks the notion that their absurd predicament is real. (cont'd)
s4mth16ngstr24nge 4 years ago
Have you read the play? Do you read stage directions?
"Faces impassive throughout. Voices toneless except where an expression is indicated.
Rapid tempo throughout."
The theatre can't remain the same ad infinitum. Who wants to see the same interpretation over and over again?
junkyfixes 3 years ago
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bs. this filmed production is style over substance. i dont like the acting at all. jeremy irons in "ohio impromptu," buster keaton in beckett's "film" - that's the beckett spirit - this clip is more makeup, photography, production design and editing than it is acting. beckett is the minimalistic essence of acting. i wouldn't mind filmed +edited in color, but i've never seen a good or even decent color-filmed version of beckett, inc. this +esp. all filmed versions of "waiting for godot."
s4mth16ngstr24nge 4 years ago
Thanks so much for posting this! I totally agree with MadamMina-- Beckett astounds me.
maryjivinjane 4 years ago
dont suppose anyone has got the original Billie Whitelaw 'Not I'? After the performance she asked him what he thought, Beckett replied; "miraculous". So if it's good enough for the big man....
Carlolondon 4 years ago
it's up on youtube now, but i think the other one with the feller doing it is easier to hear.
doctorkill 4 years ago
One word springs to mind speaking of Beckett, Genius.
This is such a wonderful performance and wonderfully captured and directed. Wonderful!
MadamMina 5 years ago
Thanks for posting this. Delightful how such literary locutions as "judge then of my astonishment" flavor the hellish script, Beckett's sublation of his Sartre's 'No Exit'.
josephsoleary 5 years ago
I really thank you for posting this. Each moment that I find the vast Samuel Beckett's literature production, I got satisfied.
Verdadonada 5 years ago
love it love it love it! i just recently played woman 2 in my A level drama exam, we went through the script that many times i pretty much know everyone elses lines as well now! thanks for posting! :)
nickedynoodles 5 years ago
Hehe yeah i'm playing woman 2 too, its a amazing play isn't it! but also very tricky.
j1630 4 years ago
thanks for posting!!!!!!
would you be able to post some other stuff from beckett on film?
even clips would be great.
wbarco 5 years ago
source is fine but youtube conversion lost audio sync
horsemanriding 5 years ago