I have just read an article titled "Play". It seems to be a very interesting piece that delves into the concept of play. The author might explore various aspects of play, such as its importance in our lives, how it affects our development, and perhaps even different forms of play. Maybe the article will discuss how play can bring joy, relieve stress, and enhance creativity. It could also touch on the role of play in different cultures and age groups. I'm looking forward to delving deeper into this article and uncovering all the fascinating insights it has to offer about the wonderful world of play.

Originally published on my blog here in February 2002.

Beckett has a well-deserved reputation as one of the most challenging twentieth-century writers. Even his most accessible and renowned play, Waiting for Godot, is often regarded as impenetrable by many. As a disciple of Joyce, there is indeed some truth to this. This is perhaps most evident in the approximately thirty short dramatic pieces collected here, which actually constitute the majority of his output.

They somewhat stretch the meaning of the word "play." Originally written for various mediums such as radio, film, TV, and the stage, they encompass mimed pieces, pieces without action, and those where the spoken word is not important in the traditional sense. Some are extremely brief, like "Breath," which lasts only seconds, while the longest, the radio play "All That Fall," is about an hour long.

Despite the diversity of form, what they share are the themes common to all of Beckett's writing. These themes are also present in "Waiting for Godot," which can truly be considered the essential Beckett play. These themes include meaninglessness, decrepitude and ageing, guilt, lack of identity, and death. In some plays, this rather daunting list is alleviated by a Joycean fascination with language. (In fact, the precision of Beckett's use of words and his prescription of performance practice are among the most interesting aspects of his work, considering his obsession with non-meaning. He clearly felt the need to specify things precisely to achieve his desired效果.) One cannot help but admire Beckett's cleverness, and many of the pieces come to life in performance, but they could never be described as cheerful.

Bekt is really a very interesting person. :))

He has a unique charm that attracts everyone around him. His sense of humor is always on point, making people laugh out loud with his witty remarks and funny stories.

Not only that, but Bekt is also very intelligent and has a deep understanding of many different topics. He can engage in interesting conversations with people from all walks of life and always has something valuable to contribute.

In addition, Bekt is a very kind and caring person. He is always willing to help others and goes out of his way to make sure that those around him are happy and comfortable.

Overall, Bekt is a truly remarkable person and it is a pleasure to know him. :))

Finally, a person must do a special thing for his birthday. Watch a special film, listen to a special piece of music, write a special thing, read or buy a special book. Although Job cursed the day and night he was born, which is also a special thing. This year I bought two dozen short story books and several other books. When I looked at the design of its cover, I thought how much it resembles an invitation card to a mourning ceremony. What a better magic than the mourning ceremony card for my birthday! The translator's goal has been achieved. I also carried out these pieces. Of course, without the stage light that increases or decreases on me and the darkness of the stage in which I fall into the room. I read and read until I reached these words:

"His birth was death. Again. The words are few. Dying too. His birth was death. Since then, laughing in a horrible way. Until the blanket comes over his head. In the crib and the baby's bed. Crying the first defeat. With the first hesitant eating."

This man is the bane of my existence.

He seems to always be there, causing problems and making my life difficult.

Every time I see him, my heart sinks and I know that something unpleasant is about to happen.

His actions are unpredictable and often hurtful, leaving me feeling frustrated and helpless.

I try to avoid him as much as possible, but it seems that fate always brings us together.

Despite my best efforts, he continues to be a thorn in my side, a constant source of stress and annoyance.

I don't know why he has such an impact on me, but I wish he would just go away and leave me alone.

Maybe one day he will, and I can finally live my life without the shadow of this man hanging over me.

Until then, I will have to find a way to cope and deal with his presence as best I can.

Short but sweet.

This simple phrase holds a lot of meaning. It implies that something may be brief in length or duration, but it is still full of value and charm.

It could refer to a short story that manages to convey a powerful message in just a few paragraphs. Or perhaps a concise speech that leaves a lasting impression on the audience.

In a world where we are constantly bombarded with information and distractions, the concept of "short but sweet" has become even more appealing. We appreciate things that can get to the point quickly and efficiently, without sacrificing quality or substance.

Whether it's a delicious dessert that satisfies our sweet tooth in a few bites, or a heartfelt note that expresses our love and gratitude in a few words, short but sweet things have a way of making our lives a little more enjoyable and memorable.

So the next time you come across something that is short but sweet, take a moment to savor it and appreciate its beauty and simplicity.

Samuel Beckett's collection of shorter plays is a remarkable exploration of the human experience.

Works such as Endgame, Krapp's Last Tape, Not I, Footfalls, and Rockaby offer a captivating look into the absurdist, minimalist, and existentialist themes that are central to his body of work and the 20th century.

In these plays, Beckett masterfully portrays despair and futility, while also delving into themes of memory, regret, and understanding.

These are not plays for the faint of heart; they require the viewer or reader to engage deeply with the ideas presented and to confront the often uncomfortable aspects of the human condition.

Beckett's unique vision and minimalist style make this collection a must-read for anyone interested in exploring the profound and unsettling aspects of life, time, and solitude.

While the text of the plays is powerful, it is important to note that they are best experienced through performance. Many of the staging elements and visual cues cannot be fully appreciated through reading alone.

Thankfully, performances of these plays can be found on YouTube, allowing audiences to fully immerse themselves in Beckett's world.

Whether you are a fan of Beckett's work or simply looking for a thought-provoking and challenging theatrical experience, this collection of shorter plays is well worth exploring.

ALL THAT FALL:
The adventure of a train delay unfolds in this radio play, filled with all of Beckett's trademark playfulness, bitterness, and absurdity. It's a story with a zinger. The late-arriving character, the blind (maybe) Mr. Rooney, becomes the life of the party and the motive of the not particularly motive play.

ACT WITHOUT WORDS I:
A solo pantomime of a sap tormented in the desert by rope, shade-giving and shade-denying tree limbs, cubes, and dangling water. As he attempts to outwit the tortures of Tantalus, he then turns catatonic. Catatonia may, in fact, be the most intelligent response. He's figured it out!

ACT WITHOUT WORDS II:
A pantomime for two characters of opposite temperament, one fast, one slow, enacting a cyclically repeating and apparently pointless ritual of daily living. They live in sacks.

KRAPP'S LAST TAPE:
Short, sad, and poignant, it's a remembrance of remembrance.

ROUGH FOR THEATER I:
An exchange of kindness for unkindness between two differently-abled individuals, both alone.

ROUGH FOR THEATER II:
An investigation into the condition of a man's hopelessness. Or is it only near-hopelessness? He's just another poor sap with "a pathological horror of songbirds," and "congenital timidity," who is "morbidly sensitive to the opinion of others."

EMBERS:
A haunting radio play that is almost in no way related to Kafka's Judgement, except for the horror of the father. Dad is bad, as are guilt, inferiority, and loss.

ROUGH FOR RADIO I:
Something rather abstract and odd, with something to do with radio. It's about a voice and music either being together or not being together. Now, it seems a forerunner/foreshadow of the similarly abstract play "Words and Music."

ROUGH FOR RADIO II:
A sort of torture-interrogation of someone named Fox, or perhaps a Fox, with a silent brute who whips him on command, an interrogator known as "animator," and a stenographer. There's flirtation/harassment, and neither the interrogation subject nor the interrogator seems to know what information is being sought. It's generally odd.

WORDS AND MUSIC:
A compelled performance between a speaker and music, sometimes together, sometimes apart, sometimes one leads the other. A disgusted master compels the performance and isn't satisfied. It's abstract and seems a continuation of an idea from Rough For Radio I.

CASCANDO:
More words and music, completing a tetralogy with the three preceding plays. This one is more clearly about the creative process, with an anarchic and constantly productive creative voice that's not easily given form or direction. An "opener" can free or silence the voice, and music can give it some semblance of form, but the voice may not reach its conclusion or form a complete thought.

PLAY:
In Limbo, a reflection on infidelity under the interrogating gaze of a spotlight. Is there any out? It's the first time a play includes the instruction "[Repeat play.]" Three souls are eternally entwined in the same drama, yet reflect entirely independently, each alone.

FILM:
A conceptual silent film about self observing self and the threat of being observed. I really should see a film of this! Does it exist?

THE OLD TUNE:
An excellent dialog going nowhere in particular between two old-timers with a rich history and somewhat unreliable memory. It's lots of fun!

COME AND GO:
Something short, slight, symmetric, and cyclical. It's reciprocal gossip.

EH JOE:
A rotten bum meditates on what a stinker he is. Possibly haunted, it's in a way a sequel to Embers.

BREATH:
Aptly named, it's just a breath. There's garbage involved. I don't always understand why people call Beckett a "minimalist," but here it fits.

NOT I:
An excellent rambling bit of madness, inner turmoil, and self-denial, perhaps at the end of all, or in another eternal limbo.

THAT TIME:
I didn't take any notes on this one for some reason. It's kind of longish, and I didn't connect with it. Three voices take over for one another mid-ramble and are basically three channels or threads of the same person's thoughts. Maybe.

FOOTFALLS:
Compulsive, ritualistic pacing. "Will you never have done?... Will you never have done... revolving it all?"

GHOST TRIO:
A television play that's not very readable and almost certainly needs to be seen to understand what's going on.

...BUT THE CLOUDS...:
Ritual living for a memory and a prayer of sorts to hear the ghostly voice of one lost, which may speak once or twice for a hundred iterations as the forlorn one carries on.

A PIECE OF MONOLOGUE:
A monologue of lovelessness and loss. Death, of course, from the moment of birth. "Never two matters. Never but the one matter. The dead and gone. They dying and the going. From the word go. The word begone."

ROCKABYE:
A woman in a rocking chair gives up and admits her defeat by life without glimpsing another soul. It's predominantly inner monologue reflecting on her own condition.

OHIO IMPROMPTU:
A self-referential tale of a reader sent to comfort a listener perhaps for the last time, though time may have stopped.

QUAD:
A well-conceived and entertaining to watch (not so much to read) balletic arrangement of various combinations and permutations of one to four compulsive pacers tracing a fixed course around a square, each with his or her own percussive musical accompaniment.

CATASTROPHE:
Theater about theater, making a spectacle of a man's decrepitude.

NACHT UND TRAUME:
A pantomime. A dude dreams of caring hands.

WHAT WHERE:
Torturers torture one another fruitlessly. Bam, Bem, Bim, and Bom by name.

OVERALL:
There are gems in here. Some works don't work for me, but many do. I'm not as thoroughly enamored of some as I am of his novels, and the works are not as overtly comic and playful in their oddness as some of his prose. However, there are thematic connections and consistency enough to say that this is all unmistakably the work of the one and only Beckett. I enjoyed watching videos of some, like NOT I and QUAD.

Samuel Beckett is a playwright whose interests and focus deviate from the romantic and traditional concepts of drama or performance. Instead, he delves deeper into the mechanics of the stage. This unique approach makes him one of the most innovative playwrights in the entire canon.

However, it also results in a rather dry reading experience at times. His scripts possess a schematic quality that is as prominent as their poetical nature, perhaps even leaning more towards the former. They resemble avant-garde instruction manuals, filled with undoubted emotion but stripped of sentimentality.

Reading Beckett's works can be a long and arduous process, much like chewing on tough vegetables. But just as vegetables are good for our physical health, engaging with Beckett's plays is beneficial for our intellectual and artistic growth. So, despite the challenges, it is well worth the effort to explore his unique and thought-provoking body of work.

Let's stick to the more popular works, I say.

It took me a whole half a year to painstakingly finish it.

During these six months, I dedicated countless hours and put in a great deal of effort.

I faced numerous challenges and obstacles along the way, but I refused to give up.

I was determined to bring this work to fruition, no matter how difficult it might be.

Now that it's finally done, I feel a sense of accomplishment and relief.

But at the same time, I also know that this is just the beginning.

There's still a long way to go to make this work truly shine and be recognized by the world.

Nevertheless, I'm ready to take on the challenge and continue working hard.

Because I believe that as long as I persevere, I will eventually achieve my goal.

You know, I'm a bit in a pensive mood. Truly, an interesting and original author, but his plays, at least those that I've read, are not intended for reading - they are for viewing. Therefore, a lot couldn't be understood, evaluated, and accepted.

Among all of them, "The Last Tape of Krep" especially stuck in my mind - about an old man who recorded his impressions of life on tape throughout his life. On his next birthday, he listens to what he recorded once and says: "Just listened to the idiot I was thirty years ago, it's hard to believe that I was such a fool. Thank God, it's all over with that." Then he takes a new tape, and... can't hold back those memories that overwhelmed him... "I was lying there, burying my face in her chest, and with one hand I was hugging her. We lay still. But everything was moving beneath us, and we were gently rocked - up and down, side to side." "Perhaps my best years have passed. When there was still hope for happiness. But I wouldn't want to get them back. No. Now, when there is this flame in me. No, I wouldn't want to get them back."

Yes indeed...

Mind-blowingly good.

This work is truly astonishing. It offers a reading experience that is not only highly satisfying but also surpasses that of any short story collection.

The vivid descriptions, engaging plots, and well-developed characters draw the reader in and keep them hooked from start to finish.

Each page is filled with excitement and anticipation, as if uncovering a hidden treasure.

The author's talent shines through in every word, creating a world that is both captivating and unforgettable.

Whether you are a fan of short stories or simply looking for a great read, this work is sure to exceed your expectations.

It is a must-read for anyone who appreciates the power of words and the magic of storytelling.

Prepare to be amazed and transported to a world of imagination and wonder.

You won't be disappointed.