2003-11-16 Beckett complete dramas.

If you are new to the works of Samuel Beckett then this is the best place to start in my opinion. There is nothing I can add which hasn't already been said about these dramas, only that they are quite short and moderately accessible but almost inexhaustable in their complexity. To describe these works as 'existentialist' really doesn't do them justice or decribe their nature to any deep degree. The plays are unique and must be experienced to be understood. Generally there is a quite dark tone to most of the works, sometimes obscenely disturbing, sometimes cynically funny but at times there are moments of true poetic beauty. I would strongly recommend these plays to anyone interested in drama of a more unconventional type. High points include - 'Waiting for Godot', 'Endgame', 'Krapp's last tape' and 'All that falls'. However, as a general warning, these are not uplifting plays, I myself found some of them sickening and disturbing in parts.