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Attacking those nerves, Samuel Beckett expressed what he saw as the bleak and desperate desolation of our lives. But his writing is also about finding ways to face up to that, 1to endure, to carry on and to laugh. Samuel Beckett: Not I, Sky Arts starring Lisa Dwan, Royal Court Theatre, Sky Arts 2013
Not I is one of Samuel Beckett’s most remarkable plays written in his mid-sixties. ibid.
His play Waiting For Godot was first staged in Paris in 1953. ibid.
Not I was written in Paris in 1972. ibid.
Mouth: Out into this world, this world … This God-forsaken world … What? Who? No! … God? ha-ha-ha! … No feeling of any kind … What? Who? No! She! … ibid.
Estragon: Nothing to be done.
Vladimir: I’m beginning to come around to that opinion. Samuel Beckett: Waiting for Godot
Vladimir: May one enquire where His Highness spent the night? ibid. Vladimir
Estragon: In a ditch. ibid.
Suppose we repented? ibid. Vladimir
People are bloody ignorant apes. ibid. Estragon
Estragon: Let’s go.
Vladimir: We can’t.
Estragon: Why not?
Vladimir: We’re waiting for Godot. ibid.
What about hanging ourselves? ibid. Estragon
Don’t let’s do anything. It’s safer. ibid. Estragon
We’ve no rights any more? … We’ve lost our rights. ibid.
Do you want a carrot? ibid. Vladimir
His name is Godot? ibid. Estragon
Estragon: No use struggling.
Vladimir: One is what one is. ibid.
You’re not Mr Godot, sir? ibid. Estragon to Pozzo
The more people I meet the happier I become. ibid. Pozzo
You can’t drive such creatures away. The best thing is to kill them. ibid.
The tears of the world are a constant quantity. ibid.
I can’t bear it any longer. ibid.
Will night never come? ibid. Vladimir
That’s how it is on this bitch of an Earth. ibid. Pozzo
In the meantime nothing happens. ibid. Estragon
Nobody comes. Nobody goes. It’s awful. ibid.
Given the existence as uttered forth in the personal works of Puncher and Wattmann of a personal God quaquaquaqua with white beard quaquaquaqua outside time without extension who from the heights of divine apathia divine athambia divine aphasia loves us dearly with some exceptions for reasons unknown but time will tell and suffers like the divine Miranda with those who for reasons unknown but time will tell are plunged in torment plunged in fire whose fire flames ... is established beyond all doubt ... that man ... wastes and pines ... for reasons unknown. ibid. Lucky
I don’t seem to be able to depart. ibid. Pozzo
Vladimir: That passed the time.
Estragon: It would have passed in any case.
Vladimir: Yes, but not so rapidly. ibid.
I sometimes wonder if we wouldn’t be better off alone. ibid. Estragon to Vladimir
What is there to recognise? ibid.
The best thing would be to kill me. ibid.
I can’t go on like this. ibid.
This is becoming really insignificant. ibid. Vladimir
We always find something, eh Didi, to give us the impression we exist. ibid. Estragon
Let’s abuse each other. ibid.
Let us not waste our time in idle discourse. ibid. Vladimir
We have kept our appointment. ibid.
We are all born mad. Some remain so. ibid. Estragon
We’re bored to death. There’s no denying it. ibid. Vladimir
What’ll we do? ibid. Estragon
Have you not done tormenting me with your accursed time! ibid. Pozzo to Vladimir
I don’t know what to think any more. ibid. Vladimir
I can’t go on. ibid.
Why don’t we hang ourselves? ibid. Estragon
I can’t go on like this. ibid.
We’ll hang ourselves tomorrow. Unless Godot comes. ibid. Vladimir
Estragon: Well shall we go?
Vladimir: Yes, let’s go [They do not move]. ibid.
Ah! Box … thrree … spool … five … Spool! Spooool! … Mother at rest at last … Hm … The black ball … Black ball? … The dark nurse … Farewell to … love. Samuel Beckett, Krapp’s Last Tape, Krapp; viz Patrick Magee TV
Have just eaten I regret to say three bananas and only with difficulty restrained a fourth. Fatal things for a man with my condition. ibid.
Now the day is over,
Night is drawing nigh-igh
Shadows – ibid. Krapp sings backstage
Spiritually a year of profound gloom and indulgence until that memorable night in March at the end of the jetty, in the howling wind, never to be forgotten when suddenly I saw the whole thing. The vision, at last. ibid.
I said again I thought it was hopeless and no good going on, and she agreed … ibid.
Nothing to say, not a squeak. ibid.
Perhaps my best years are gone. When there was a chance of happiness. But I wouldn’t want them back. Not with the fire in me now. No, I wouldn’t want them back. ibid.
We’re doing another Voyager play. As soon as I can write it. Star Trek: Voyager s6e22: Muse, Kelis
You can’t change somebody’s way of life with a few lines of dialogue. ibid. B’Elanna to Kelis
Plays like Entertaining Mrs Sloane and Loot [Joe Orton] with their assault on taboos of sex, class and death were a challenge to theatre audiences. Rude Britannia 3/3: You’ve Never Had It So Rude, BBC 2010
Orton’s last piece of notorious rude theatre was What the Butler Saw. ibid.
Life’s like a play; it’s not the length but the excellence of the acting that matters. Seneca
The play was a great success, but the audience was a disaster. Oscar Wilde
The world is a stage, but the play is barely cast. Oscar Wilde