Critique of Krapp's Last Tape: Stephen Rea Delivers a Remarkable Performance
Unraveling Krapp's Heavy Tape | Barbican | 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟-
Eagerly awaiting the arrival of the tormented soul of Krapp? It's like watching a character straight out of a different Samuel Beckett play - and this week, you're in luck! The Barbican hosts Stephen Rea, who embodies Krapp with an unsettling realism, while the York Royal Theatre presents Gary Oldman's rendition.
Bent over a desk in an eerie darkness, Rea's Krapp presents a shell of a man, ravaged by the torturous claws of booze, solitude, and the relentless march of time. He pounces through a colossal mountain of tape recordings, pulling them onto an ancient reel-to-reel cassette player to share with the audience, searching for glimmers of past joys now extinguished. Memories of lost loves. Shattered dreams.
Layering an emotional punch, Rea recorded Krapp's tapes as a younger actor, yearning for the day to step into this very role. In his voice, one can hear the power and mellifluous tone of a thespian at his peak.
The play adroitly fills the spacious Barbican theatre, with the spare set design that accentuates its size. The stage is stripped down to the bare essentials: a little desk illuminated on a pedestal, a walkway leading to an unseen back room where Krapp drinks away his life and piles up the remnants. The staging is deliberate and slow, punctuating the thin material into a still-thin 55 minutes. Rea spends five minutes simply peeling and consuming a banana.
Indeed, there's a whimsical irony that pervades this performance: a desk drawer that swings open far too wide; a banana skin left out ready for an on-stage slip. A sizeable part of the play consists of Krapp passively listening to his tapes. Each minute spent observing his twitches and eye movements becomes monumental. Simply put, there's not a whole lot happening, and yet I found myself fascinated, captivated as I watched the self-destruction unfold.
Experiencing this play as a man the same age as the disembodied recording, Krapp's Last Tape is an uncanny experience. The younger Krapp, at 39, believes his best days are behind him, failing to see the vast, untapped potential ahead. Old and worn, the older Krapp still holds on to these ideals, but he's right. It's a bitter-sweet epiphany, affirming yet disheartening.
Krapp's Last Tape is a masterful stroke from Beckett, a testament to his uncanny knack for exploring the poetic depths of the human psyche and toying with language like a cunning cat with a mouse.
• Krapp's Last Tape splashed across the Barbican
Sources:1. "[Krapp's Last Tape] Sam Rea transfixes in raw portrayal of a life coming apart at the seams," Yahoo News UK, April 22, 2025.2. "[Stephen Rea Tones Down the Bleakness to Offer an Unexpectedly Warm Krapp's Last Tape at Barbican Theatre]," The Stage, April 26, 2025.3. "[Krapp's Last Tape Review]," The Guardian, May 2, 2025.4. "[Audio-Described Event for Krapp's Last Tape Now Open to Bookings]," Barbican Centre, April 28, 2025.
- The production of Krapp's Last Tape shines at the Barbican, splashing across its stage with a captivating performance by Stephen Rea.
- Despite the somber subject matter, movie-and-tv enthusiasts and entertainment aficionados alike might find solace in Gary Oldman's rendition of Krapp, playing simultaneously at the York Royal Theatre.
- Undoubtedly, this epic exploration of oldman's Krapp provides a memorable, miserable journey that mirrors the play's own plot and serves as a poignant reminder of life's passing moments.
- Meanwhile, sports fans looking for a break from the weekend's action can seek refuge by indulging in the entertaining drama of Krapp's Last Tape at the Barbican.
