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From: horsemanriding
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  • Cons: I have no freakin' idea what is happening in this play

    Pros: Written by Samuel Beckett and performed by Alan Rickman

  • WARNING!!!! Do not watch this when you're high. I warned you

  • I give up! Ill take the fail

  • Alan Rickman is far more than just Snape. This is only a fraction of proof. Anything he takes on, he takes on perfectly.

  • watch?v=SS5FwhecoLY for down below

  • this is like renaldo and the loaf, the play.

    youtube.com

    /SS5FwhecoLY

  • SNAPE WTF!!! :oooo Awesome

  • where can I find the text for this?

  • I love Beckett! He is a genius! And it was easier for me to focus when I got past the point of associating the story of the man with Snape...I just couldn't help myself.

  • Alan Rickman♥

  • Don't focus too much about what they say. Some words you catch give you the juice of the "conversation".

  • would probably see the genius in it a little better IF I COULD UNDERSTAND IT WITHOUT PRESSING MY EARS TO THE SCREEN

  • Being an actor in this has to be something on the scale of hard to hardest in the drama game. Impressive. I like the hair designs too.

  • This is interesting, to say the least, but damn if it's hard to follow. Cool though.

  • What the hell is this about?????

  • @MrRobmull Actually, I kept up, but it wasn't really worth it. I don't know why but it seems like things go nuts anyway through the whole thing. In other words, I wouldn't ask what this play is about but more just WHAT THE FUCK?! That makes things much easier.

  • incredibile;)

  • Gay

  • Canvassing to prove a point - would you please 'Like' this comment if you DO NOT find the first part of 'Play' funny. So many critics claim it's funny, "droll repartee and catty comment", and I disagree totally but I have a feeling that's to do with my personal experience of affairs...

  • Alan rickman's voice <3

  • this is just wayyy to werid!

  • @Ankido94 Too, weird. Not to.

  • this is hilarious

  • SNAPE!!!!!!!!!

  • I want to marry this.

  • April 13, happy birthday!

  • brilliant!

  • briljant!

  • ahhh am doing this for my assignment, am shitting myself it is so difficult.

  • @93oLiViAoRaNgE93 Olivia what are we going to bloody do.

  • @computerorphone We did it!!! xxx

  • this is horrific.

  • pure aural and visual torture

  • Snape!!

  • It's a bit like trying to follow a thread on a Twitter account.

  • @elshafto111 What an in-depth and insightful critique of Beckett's work and the actors' interpretation of the same... have you considered applying for the LA Times' Theater Critic position? I'm sure you'd be marvelous...

  • @rabadooda

    no offence, coz I think it's awesome

    that last comment u posted is not hardly the way these pots seem to be talking

  • I love how the characters speak in a certain beat. It's wonderful writing.

  • I wonder if Alan Rickman's naked under there... O.o I sure hope so :D

  • But the cherry on the icing was your having the gall to call me an idiot . Ironically, that was precisely the imbecilic mentality I was criticizing; whereby your measure of someone's intelligence is a test of whether they can understand the poorly enunciated poetry of some heads sitting atop vases.

  • Generally, though, I think poetry tends to be a big game of “Guess what I’m thinking!” and I hate that game. I’m not a mind-reader. So yes, I think a lot of people who get excited about poetry are pretentious. That doesn't mean to say that I think all poetry is pretentious - so please don't misquote me.

  • @rabadooda

    I for one get excited about poetry simply for the fact that its all not so immediately obvious at once, and even when youre quite certain about the meaning of a given piece you could be very well far off from the authors intent. Poetry forces one into a state of reflection and pondering, and this I find exciting. Because a truth one arrives at from a poem was not intended by the author doesnt make it any less valid to the reader. Its still nice to know what the devil theyre on about.

  • @rabadooda Is it not pretentious (and rather hypocritical) to call something pretentious when you (self admittedly) have no knowledge of the very thing you are dismissing as pretentious? Or are you rather generalizing all poetry/plays which are not concretely rooted in simplistic matters as tools by which others flaunt their intellect about? Either way your original and subsequent comments seem to have very little merit, unless I'm somehow mistaken. If I am incorrect, please explain why.

  • @ineverrememberthese Did you even read my comments? I specifically said "This reminds me of my pretentious English teachers at school" who would show our class videos (like this) while not understanding the underlying meaning, proceeding to "analyze" them in a pseudo-intellectual way. I was not criticizing the content of this video but the responses from other commentators.

  • @rabadooda What other stuff is 'like this' that your English teacher has shown you? There isn't any other 'stuff' like this play. Even Beckett's other plays are not like this, so I can see a flaw in your point I'm afraid.

  • @MrShempenman Like when we watched the film version of Romeo and Juliet with Leonardo Di Caprio (the modernized version). I don't mean it was like this except in the sense that it elicited a presumptuous response from the teacher and students who didn't really understand the meaning of the language but made bold assertions about the film anyway. Not to mention that the film was totally anachronistic anyway.

  • if you know so much about so much, then why don't you tell me why this play makes no sense to me?

  • @namesthemusicalbean I haven't claimed to know much about anything - which is why I wrote my original comment in the first place. I was simply saying that people - such as yourself - who jump to baseless conclusions without prior knowledge, should think before doing so.

  • @namesthemusicalbean slow it down, and read about on wikipedia first.

    it makes sense as three monologues talking about the other two get it?

  • @ineverrememberthese Then I went on to talk about why I dislike the pretentious culture surrounding Literature (as evidenced by the comments section on this very video). . As you pointed out so articulately, there are countless people who write over-analytical drivel to flaunt their (self-perceived) intellects. I can't explain fully why I have such a disdain for it, but I think its because of how ego driven it is.

  • Beckett precisely captures the emotion of which he speaks.

  • What a thing

  • This video reminds me of all my pretentious English teachers who would beam when forcing our class to watch videos that we couldn't understand. It is true, I confess, that I have not studied this play and I cannot therefore criticize the quality of the writing. I can, however, judging from past experience, assert my opinion which is that people love pretending they understand stuff when they don't. It makes them feel superior.

  • @rabadooda Yes a Nobel Prize winning writer must simplify his works so that idiots like you can understand. Just because you havent taken the time to listen to it properly because you have no attention span doesnt make it pretentious. If you are going to criticize something that someone has created the do it constructively x

  • @judobowie So you're saying that I shouldn't be allowed to criticize something unless I do so constructively? Does that mean that I should criticize Hitler's 'final solution' constructively also? Yeah, didn't think so...

    Also, if you had the 'attention span' that you claim to possess, then you'd realize that I never said that the writing was pretentious AT ALL. My exact quote was "this video reminds me of all my pretentious English teachers". I didn't even mention anything about the play.

  • @rabadooda lol you compare systematic genocide to a play

  • @Garuda0190 I used an extreme example to exemplify how stupid the idea of constructive criticism is in this situation. If you don't fundamentally agree with the way something is presented (e.g. because you think it is presented in a pseudo-intellectual way) then why on earth should you criticise it constructively? So as not to harm the precious ego of a pretentious Litty flitty? I don't think so.

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  • well i think since Play was written in the conventions of modernism and dadaism to some extent, then it's not there for the readers to 'get', the very *lack* of meaning in Beckett's works is what should be scrutinized, not the fact that it doesn't make sense - we all know *that*.

    it plays with word associations semiotics, it's not there for cohesive content.

    it's like expecting naturalism in Cubist art.

    it's not pretentious to have an opinion on something with an open interpretation!!

  • wtf you're ALL BRITS!??

  • Amazing.

  • when i first watched this i was half expecting someone to call me and say i had seven days left to live, it always leaves a tingling feeling up my spine

  • Beckett was bonkers!!!

  • An amazing play that proves that you don't have to be long to be profound. The first time I watched this I really didn't understand what was going on or what relationship these three people had to one another. The machine-gun dialogue made me head spin. I watche dit again and "got it". Beckett is a geniius even if his plays frustrate the hell out of you.

  • I like this video. Thank you for your sharing. Hope to see next your video.

  • Is it sead in the text that it is sopposed to be performed in such a fast tempo?

  • @SonofDostojevskij Yep - stage directions in my French text say "Fast flow" of speech.

  • this is so intense, I was anxious the entire time watching it

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  • THANK YOU

  • Can anyone tell me the names of the actors playing in this version?

  • My teacher put this video on in class and I find it very interesting, the scenary looks scary and they speak so fast!! Um... I feel bad for the kid down below who has todo the lights for this in theatre class

  • DONT CLICK ON THE TEXT OF THE PLAY LINK ITS AN ATTACK PAGE

  • One of the greatest writings in the English langauge. Him, Oscar Wilde and Seamus Heaney are all a testament to Ireland.

  • lol. the hiccups "pardon." ah... by grabthar's hammer... what a savings.

  • Transcribe Audio: "yes is it is it in the Americans will buy a home a secret on mornings I listened to the advantage of estimate that it cannot use the few times that it was the kind of thing that the President elect in the past and as to believe that that me government health coverage just over the gloves that were recovered from help us sort out the coroner she could approve sort of a regular which was talking about but he didn't act as if he wins the manual is conducting" XD

  • It would be one thing if it was just the three of them recounting to the spotlight their thoughts about an affair and its aftermath, but the play really gets ingenious when they start talking back to the spotlight, mocking it.

  • I saw this first time at my school our teacher saw us this and I was shocked;o

    I thought that was snape and I've got right!

  • i took 3 wingless flies and put them in three plantpots, they recited this.

  • Samuel Beckett truly knows how to portray the feeling he wishes.

  • Probably the longest seven minutes of my life. But fascinating nontheless.

  • God Bless me, i have to do the lights for this in the theatre. . . .bollix

  • @cronhole Oh wow. I shall pray for you.

  • This is the coolest yet srangest thing i have ever seen in my life.

  • What is Snape doing in that urn?

  • 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

  • @Fred1102 This is a film version of a play by Samuel Beckett. This is exactly how it would look on stage.

  • @Fred1102 It's a post-modernist play by Samuel Beckett... You'r not supposed to feel comfortable

  • Doing this as a monologue, it is hard to keep up to speed with them. But is a really good piece of writing.

  • i love this

  • Severus Snape?

  • how the hell did Beckett manage to get this all down on paper

  • Watched this in my AP Literature class.

    SB is a genius.

  • it's absurd. I love it. Alan Rickman is amazing. This is my favourite of samuel Becketts'. You can make of it as you please. I believe they are in their own versions of "hell", re-living their sins without resolution, re-"Play"ing they're lives in their minds. I think it's amazing.

  • I don't get the whole deal on this, where can I find more info?

  • This is breathtaking!!!

    ♥ love Alan Rickman ♥

  • alguien que lo traduzca al español¡¡¡¡¡¡

  • Alan Rickman is so absolutely wonderful...even as a head coming out of an urn and covered in mud.

  • This is an amazing thing. Unfortunately somepeople don't understand the pure poetry of this. It is a view on life; We only have our own story and no one knows your story and you only have your story for the rest of your life and after. Did you notice they are in urns that you put ashes in. this is a depressing view on life if you listen to what they are saying and you can pick up on what Samuel Beckett thinks of life in this "Play".

    Oh I LOVE Alan Rickman. :) :) :) :) :)

  • wow...you get used to it after a while. very visually striking and creative =)

  • Beckett was truely a genius, and i actually love this rendition of it.

  • this is possibly the worst rendition of this that exists. "ooo wow yay, i can say samuel beckett's text really fast!" Are you kidding me? no emotion, no inflection, no story. Its like taking a steamroller and driving it over a bed of beautiful roses.

    glamourized bullshit version.

  • @StereoFlange Have you read the stage directions?

  • @StereoFlange Not everything is for everybody. You are however incredibly wrong.

  • @StereoFlange Quote from the stage directions: "Faces impassive throughout. Voices toneless except where an expression is indicated. Rapid tempo throughout."

  • @StereoFlange The stage directions specifically ask that there be no tone, a fast tempo, and no real facial expression.

  • I had to recreate this for a production arts film...it's so difficult to do all the good camera shots and making the urns was hell but his version helped alot!

  • I'm so glad this is posted. I'm trying to memorize it for a theatre class and this is helping out so much. It helps to hear both women's lines to help out with cues.

  • Hahaaa, imagine watching it without having read it. Beckett was a genius because the entire play consists of oxymoronic dialogues which say so much about life. "Darkness is all I craved.. The darker the worse". Great. His theatrical tools are innovative, hiccups in this case. Beckett was a blessing to art!

  • my older brother's god father is Samuel Beckett

  • Beckett is was a mad genius.

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  • Beckett... absolute genius. His works are phenomenal.

  • Middle one is Snape.

  • Alan Rickman.. He's pretty badass.

  • This is amazing.

  • i agree

  • What in the fuck......?

  • @SAIDTHEBEAR

    hahhahahah that is Samuel Beckett......can you see the meaning? It's life :)

  • I must not be smart enough to see his genius. I wish this made sense to me, but it just kinda creeps me out.

  • Its not that luv, you just really have to listen and think. No interpretation is wrong unless your oblivious to the fact they are talking about an marital affair. You don't have to be a genius. I can guarantee to you that if you watch it at least three times. You'll understand a litttle better.

  • Why do you think he is a genius if you can't see his genius?

  • because my teacher (who had us read endgame by becket) said thet he is and so do many other people. So that's the point, I do not see the genius others see. :?

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  • what is this called??

  • It's called "play"

  • @ladeejaye It is simply called 'Play'. I'm surprised Beckett didn't also write a novel called 'Book'.

  • Ah, Beckett, was never able to match his own brilliance after Godot.

  • not true..

  • You're not the only one that it stoped on 6:13. It did it on mine too

  • Mine stopped at 6.13 too... weird! I like this, my favourite part is 4:51-4:56

  • Damn it, My video stopped loading on 6:13... Good ol' reliable youtube for you.

  • lol um more like your internet hahahaha

  • snape!

  • WOW. Beckett was a weirdo. A badass weirdo.

    People do avant garde things now, but all of it is complete BS. Is Beckett the only good modern avant garde artist?

  • Well for film you've got to applaude the works of David lynch and the now deceased Andy Warhol. Also E Elias Merhige and Alajandro Jordorowski.

  • personally, i've always preferred tetley

    hahahhaha! i love this

  • These guys are amazing, Alan Rickman is incredible.

  • they cut a whole ton out ffrom the real one!

  • All drama kids have an opinion... tsk tsk

  • Oh no, not input. Not discourse. Not interaction. How horrible it is to contribute intelligence in an open forum.

  • thank you so much, I really love this work.

  • Just my opinion, but this violates Beckett's use of the light to act as inquisitor/interrogator, forcing the audience to form a relationship with "the light". The camera just doesn't translate that very well. In the theatre each actor would be in darkness until the light acknowledged them, and each actor would not know of the others as each is in their own darkness. It 's really three separate, individual dialogs, not three people interacting with each other which the film seems to imply.

  • They're not acknowledging eachother in this film- they're off in their own worlds. It's quite a creative take on a film version of this phenomenal play.

    I also agree about the light, but I think that the camera angles make up for the light. The camera angles in the film are just as fascinating as the light is on stage. Different medium, totally similar awe-inspiring performances. :)

  • really? I havent seen the original performed but I was given the impression that it was 3 separate monologues when I watched this. (and this is the first ive heard of this play) with each speaker locked in their own personal but interrelated hells.

  • Thats the point. Non-sense may not "mean" anything per se, but it certainly occupies a special place in our lives. Sound familiar?

  • I played Henry in Embers last year, long time Beckett fan and this production is FANTASTIC!!

  • I agree

  • O-o

  • I love Kristen-Scott Thomas (she's the first woman to speak) in Gosford Park playing Lady Silvia. See that movie!

  • I haven't seen this on the stage, but I do know how it's staged, and think I would've been a bit confused if I hadn't. I gather from their lines near the end (well, ends) that they start to talk directly to what in the play is the spotlight and in this film is... the camera? The mechanical noises that happen every time the speaker switches seems to suggest this. It's interesting, but I wonder if it works better with the spotlight, as written.

    That said, *brilliant* acting.

  • I was in a production many years ago of "Play", this is goooood

  • wow.that was simply amazing

  • So fabulous!

  • I love this! so different and thought provoking. I love even the makeup and the way they filmed it. just amazing

  • Masterful.

  • I am so lost.

    Uh... very arty?

  • xD Yes, very arty. Just listen to the words. The story tells itself.

  • Lol small world, I was searching theatre of the absurb, clicked on this, and then realised I had actually seen this performed before

    Severus Snape!

  • Originally a stage play, the missing character is the most important.A light, a light to shine on the Actors face during thier speach.The Actor must speak while the light is on them.Your life/ confession/redemption may only be spoken when the light is on you.You do not know when you or if the light will shine on you.When it does the sence of urgency is maddnening/driving/all comsuming.Yes, another character missing from this production. Urgency.Good attempt for film. Personally I prefer Lipton's

  • Excuse me: can you tell me what Lipton's is it? I'm not aware of what you mentioned here ("Lipton's" remark). Thank you.

  • Lipton's - a brand of Tea?!

  • haha, nevermind... I got it!

  • i love it ! amazing work

  • "he stinks of bitch"

    amazing : )

  • omg it is brilliant!

  • Fuckin' brilliant.

  • Extraordinary performance...