Krapp's Last Tape

Krapp's Last Tape is a one-act play, written in English, by Samuel Beckett. Consisting of a cast of one man, it was originally written for Northern Irish actor Patrick Magee and first entitled "Magee monologue". It was inspired by Beckett's experience of listening to Magee reading extracts from Molloy and From an Abandoned Work on the BBC Third Programme in December 1957. The play, which premiered as a curtain raiser to Endgame from 28 October 1958 to 29 November 1958) at the Royal Court Theatre, in London, was directed by Donald McWhinnie and starred Patrick Magee. It ran for thirty-eight performances. The first American performance, on 14 January 1960, was directed by Alan Schneider and starred Donald Davis. On 15 March 1958 Beckett wrote a letter to a bookseller in London, Jake Schwartz, saying that he had "'four states, in typescript, with copious notes and dirty corrections, of a short stage monologue I have just written (in English) for Pat Magee. This was composed on the... full article at wikipedia