酷我-北美枫

[ericcoliu]

The Shortest Stage Play, Breath


Over the past two weeks, I have concentrated on viewing the filmed versions of Samuel Beckett’s plays, and impressed by the most compressed of Beckett’s dramatic works entitled Breath. The play has no actors, just a stage full of rubbish. It begins with a brief, faint cry, then the amplified sound of a human breath accompanied by an increase and decrease in the intensity of the light, followed by another faint cry as the lights fade and the curtain falls. Based on Beckett's detailed instructions in his script, the play is estimated about 25 seconds long. The filmed version I watched is about 35 seconds.

Life portrayed in Breath is reduced to a brief interlude of dim light between two cries and two darknesses, symbolizing birth and death. It subtly touches on a more typical Beckett subject: the brevity and futility of life itself. It reminds me of Pozzo's words in Waiting for Godot:

"They give birth astride a grave, the light gleams an instant and then it is night once more."
_________________
Time is nothing but a disquiet of the soul

[[ericcoliu]]

The Shortest Stage Play, Breath


Over the past two weeks, I have concentrated on viewing the filmed versions of Samuel Beckett’s plays, and impressed by the most compressed of Beckett’s dramatic works entitled Breath. The play has no actors, just a stage full of rubbish. It begins with a brief, faint cry, then the amplified sound of a human breath accompanied by an increase and decrease in the intensity of the light, followed by another faint cry as the lights fade and the curtain falls. Based on Beckett's detailed instructions in his script, the play is estimated about 25 seconds long. The filmed version I watched is about 35 seconds.

Life portrayed in Breath is reduced to a brief interlude of dim light between two cries and two darknesses, symbolizing birth and death. It subtly touches on a more typical Beckett subject: the brevity and futility of life itself. It reminds me of Pozzo's words in Waiting for Godot:

"They give birth astride a grave, the light gleams an instant and then it is night once more."
_________________
Time is nothing but a disquiet of the soul

[Champagne]

It’s ironic that the stage directions for Breath occupy a single page and take longer to read than the performing of them.

[[Champagne]]

It’s ironic that the stage directions for Breath occupy a single page and take longer to read than the performing of them.

[星子]

Hi Eric,

To think like this will scare me. How I hope life can be more meaningful and persistent
_________________

[[ANNA]]

Hi Eric,

To think like this will scare me. How I hope life can be more meaningful and persistent
_________________

[ericcoliu]

[[ericcoliu]]