French Production of ‘La Dernière bande’ to Play at Holy Cross in Centennial Celebration of Beckett

WORCESTER, Mass. – The French section of the department of modern languages and literatures at the College of the Holy Cross is sponsoring La Dernière bande (Krapp’s Last Tape), a play by Samuel Beckett (1906-1989). Novelist and playwright, Beckett left numerous works which contributed to define the philosophy of the Absurd. The performance is Oct. 30 at 7 p.m in the Hogan Campus Center, Room 519. Tickets are $3 for students and $5 for the general public.

When he wrote his play Krapp’s Last Tape in 1958, Beckett had already published his text on Marcel Proust and had studied at length the phenomenon of memory. Initially written in English, the play was translated into French by Beckett in 1959 as La Dernière bande. In the play, we meet Krapp on the day of his 69th birthday, who listens to tapes that he recorded 30 years back. Listening to the tapes helps him to reconnect the Krapp of yesterday with the Krapp of today. The character we meet, his silences, his body language, all speak of the man that Krapp has become, a shadow of his younger self.

Claude Beauclair, director of La Compagnie Inter-Europe Spectacles, a Paris-based theater group, will incarnate Krapp. Inter-Europe Spectacles comes to Holy Cross each fall for a performance given in French. Their repertory is comprised of French classics such as Molière, Sartre, Prévert, Flaubert, Sand, Ionesco, and Duras.

Stage direction: Claude Beauclair; costumes: Françoise Mojeret.