Samuel Beckett
Digital Manuscript Project
Krapp's Last Tape / La Dernière Bande

MS-HRC-SB-4-2-3

Typescript III
of

KRAPP'S LAST TAPE

[p. 1r] 3.58

[0003]
[0004]
[0001] A late envening [] in the nineteen eighties. [0002] Krapp's den.
[0004] Krapp, a wearish old man, is discovered front centre.
[0003] Front centre a small table the two drawers of which open towards audience. [0004] Sitting at the table, facing front, an old man: Krapp.

[0005] Rusty black narrow trousers too short for him. [0006] Rusty black sleeveless waistcoat, four capacious pockets. [0007] Heavy silver watch and chain. [0008] Grimy white shirt open at neck, no collar. [0009] Surprising pair of dirty white boots, size ten, very narrow and pointed.

[0010] Pallid face. [0011] Purple nose. [0012] Disordered grey hair. [0013] Unshaven.

[0014] Very near sighted (but unspectacled) and [0015] hard of hearing.

[0016] Cracked voice, [0017] peculiar accent. [0018] His walk.

[0019] At centre of table a tape-recorder, with microphone. On its right a number of cardboard boxes containing recorded tapes. [0019|001] On its left a worn ledger.

[0020] Table and immediately adjacent area in strong white light. [0021] Rest of stage in darkness.

[0022] Krapp remains a moment motionless, then looks at his watch, fumbles in his waistcoat pockets, takes out an envelope, puts it back, fumbles, takes out a small bunch of keys, raises them to his eyes, choses a key, gets up and moves to front of table. [0023] He stoops, unlocks a drawer, peers into it, feels about inside, takes out a reel, peers at it, puts it back, closes and locks drawer, unlocks the other, peers into it, feels about inside, takes out a large banana, [] holds it up high between finger & thumb closes and locks drawer, puts keys back in his pocket. [0024] He turns, advances to edge of stage, halts, [] caresses banana, peels [] it, drops the skin, puts end of banana in his mouth and remains motionless, staring vacuously before him. [0025] [] Finally he bites off the end, turns aside and begins pacing up and down at edge of stage, in light, i.e. not more than four or five paces either way, eating banana meditatively. [0026] He treads on skin, slips, nearly falls, recovers himself, stoops and peers at skin and finally pushes it, still stooping, with his foot over the edge of stage into pit. [0027] He resumes his pacing, finishes the banana, returns to table, sits down, remains a moment motionless, takes keys from his pocket, raises them to his eyes, choses key, gets up, moves to front of table, as before with drawers, takes out a second banana, holds it up high between finger and thumb closes and locks drawer, puts keys back in his pocket, turns and advances to edge of stage, halts, caresses banana peels it, , puts skin in his pocket, puts end of banana in his mouth and remains motionless, staring vacuously before him. [0028] He has an idea, drops banana at his feet, turns and goes backstage into darkness. [0029] Ten seconds. [0030] Loud pop of cork. [0031] Fifteen seconds. [0032] He comes back into light carrying an old ledger and sits down at table. [0033] He lays ledger on table, wipes his mouth, wipes his hands on his waistcoat, brings them smartly together and rubs them.

Krapp

[0034] (briskly). [0035] Ah! [0036] (He bends over ledger, turns the pages, finds the entry he wants, reads.) [0037] Box...thrree...spool...five. ([0038] He raises his head and stares front. [0039] With relish.) [0040] Spool! [0041] (Pause.) [p. 2r] [0042] Spooool! ([0044] Pause. [0045] He stoops to table, starts peering and poking at the boxes.) [0046] Box...thrree...thrree...four...two...(with surprise)...nine! Good God! ...seven...ah! the little rascal! [0047] (He holds the box up high between finger & thumb.) [0048] Box thrree. [0049] (He lays it on the table opens it, peers at the spools inside.) [0050] Spool...(he peers at ledger, finds entry)...five. (He peers at spools.) Five...five...ah! the little soundrel ! [0051] (He takes out a spool, holds it up high between finger and thumb.) [0052] Spool five. [0053] (He lays it on table, closes box three, puts it back with the others. He takes up spool.) [0054] Box thrree, spool five. ([0055] He [0059] loads tape on machine, rubs his hands.) [0060] Ah! [0061] (He peers at ledger. Reading entry at foot of page.) [0062] Mother at rest at last... [0064] The black ball... ([0065]He raises his head, stares front [0066] Puzzled.) [0067] Black ball? ([0067|001] Pause. [0068] He peers again at ledger, reads.) [0069] The dark nurse. [0070] (He raises his head, broods, peers again at ledger.) [0071] Improvement in bowel condition... [0073]Memorable...what? [0074] (He peers closer.) [0075] Equinox, memorable equinox. ([0076] He raises his head, stares front. [0077] Puzzled.) [0078] Memorable equinox? ([0079] Pause. [0080] He shrugs his shoulders, peers again at ledger.) [0081] Farewell to - (he turns the page) - love.

[0082] He raises his head, broods, bends over machine, switches it on and assumes listening posture, i.e. leaning forward, elbows on table, hand cupping ear towards machine, face front.

Tape

[0083] (strong voice, rather pompous, obviously Krapp's at a much earlier time.) [0084] [0085] [0084] Thirty-seven today, sound as - [0085] (Settling himself more comfortably he knocks one of the boxes off the table, curses, switches off machine, sweeps boxes and ledger violently from table, winds tape back to beginning, switches on machine, resumes pose.) [0086] Thirty-seven today, sound as a...(hesitates)...whistle, apart from my old trouble, and intellectually I have now every reason to suspect at the...(hesitates)... crest of my powers - or thereabouts. [0087] Celebrated the awful occasion, as in recent years, quietly at the Winehouse. [0088] Not a soul. [0089] Sat before the fire with closed eyes, separating the grain from the chaff. [0090] Jotted down a few notes, on the back of an envelope. [0091] Good to be back in my den, in my old rags. [0092] Have just eaten I regret to say three bananas and only with difficulty refrained from a fourth. [0093] [] Fatal things for a man with my condition. [0095] Cut them out. [0096] (Pause.) [0097] The new light above my table is a great improvement. [0098] With all this darkness round me I feel less alone. [0099] (Pause.) [0100] In a way. [0101] (Pause.) [0102] I like to get up and move about in it, then back here to...(hesitates)...me.

DOODLE 1

[0105] Pause.

[0106] The grain, what do I mean by that, I mean...( hesitates)...I suppose I mean those things worth having when all the dust has - when all my dust has settled. [0107] I close my eyes and try and imagine them.

[0108] Long pause

[p. 2v]

[0042] Spooool! [0044] ([0044] Pause. [0045] He stoops to table, begins peering and poking at the boxes.) [0046] Box...thrree...thrree...four...two...(with surprise)...nine! Jesus!...seven...ah!...the little rascal! [0051] (He takes out a spool, straightens up, holds up spool between finger and thumb.) [0052] Spool five. [0053] (He lays it on table, closes box three, puts it

[0210] Hardly anyone about in those days.

DOODLE 2
[p. 3r]

[0110] Extraordinary silence this evening. I strain my ears and do not hear a sound. [0111] Old Miss McGlone always sings at this hour. [0112] [] But no tonight [0113] Songs of her girlhood, she says. [0114] Hard to think of her as a girl. [0115] Wonderful woman []though. [0116] Connaught I fancy. [] [0116|001] [] [0117] (Pause.) [0118] Shall I sing when I am her age, if I ever am? [0119] No. [0121] Did I sing as a boy? [0122] No. [0124] Did I ever sing? [0125] No.

[0126] Pause.

[0127] I have just listened to an old year, passages at random. [0128] I did not check in the book, but it must be at least ten or twelve years ago. [0129] At that time I think I was still living on and off with Bianca in Street. [0130] Well out of that. [0131] Hopeless business. [0132] (Pause.) [0133] Not much about her. Just [] A tribute to her eyes. [0135] I suddenly saw them again. [0136] (Pause.) [0137] Incomparable. [0138] (Pause.) [0139] Ah well... [0140](Pause.) [0141] These old P.M.s are gruesome, but I always - (Krapp switches off, broods, switches on again) - find them a help before embarking on a new...(hesitates)... retrospect. [0142] Hard to believe I was ever that young whelp. [0143] The voice! [0144] Jesus! [0145] And the aspirations. DOODLE 3 DOODLE 4 [0146] (Brief laugh in which Krapp joins.) [0147] And the resolutions! [0148] (Brief laugh in which Krapp joins.) [0149] To drink less, of all things.. [0150] (Brief laugh of Krapp alone.) [0151] Statistics. [0152] Seventeen hundred hours, out of the preceding eight thousand odd, consumed on licensed premises alone. [0153] Over 20%. [0155] Plans for a less engrossing sexual life. [0156] Last illness of his father. [0157] Flagging pursuit of happiness. [0158] Unattainable laxation. [0163] [] Shadow of the magnum opus. [0164] Closing with a - - (brief laugh) - yelp to Providence. [0165] (Prolonged laugh in which Krapp joins.) [0166] What remains of all that misery? [0167] A girl in a shabby green coat, on a railway-station platform? [0168] No?

[0169] Pause.

[0170] When I look - ([0171] Krapp switches off machine, broods, looks at his watch, gets up and goes backstage into darkness. [0172] Ten seconds. [0173] Pop of cork. [0174] Ten seconds. [0175] Second cork. [0176] Ten seconds. [0177] Third cork. [0178] Ten seconds. [0179] Brief burst of quavering song. []

[0181] "Now the day is over,
Night is drawing " nigh-igh"
Shad-ows
[0182] (fit of coughing).

[0183] He comes back into light, sits down, switches on machine, resumes his posture.) [0184] - back on the year that is gone, with what I hope are perhaps the old eyes to come, there is of course the house on the canal where mother lay a-dying, in the early autumn, after her long ...(hesitates)...viduity (Krapp gives a start) and the - [0185] (Krapp switches off machine, winds back tape a little, bends his ear closer to machine) [0186] - a-dying, in the early autumn, after her long ...(hesitates)...viduity, and the - ([0187] Krapp switches off machine, raises his head, stares blankly before him. [0188] His lips move in the syllables of "viduity". [0189] No sound. [0190] He gets up, goes backstage into darkness, comes back with an enormous dictionary, lays it on table, looks up the word, reads, (quotes definition if possible), nods, closes dictionary, switches on machine, resumes his posture.) [0207] - bench by the weir from where I could see her window. [0208] There I sat, wishing she were gone. [0209] (Pause.) [0210] [] DOODLE 5 [0210] [0210] Deserted spot it was, just a few regulars, nursemaids, infants, old men, dogs. I got to know them quite well - oh by appearance I mean! [0211] One dark young beauty I [p. 4r] recollect particularly, all white and starch, incomparable bosom, with a big black hooded pram, most funereal thing. [0212] Whenever I looked in her direction she had her eyes on me. [0213] But one day when I was ingenuous enough to speak to her try and pat her on the bottom [Stet] she threatened to call a policeman. [0217] The face she had! [0218] Eyes [0219] like - moonstone! [0220] (Pause.) [0223] I was there when - (Krapp switches off, broods, switches on again) - the blind went down, one of those dirty brown roller affairs, throwing a ball for fox terrier as chance would have it. [0224] I happened to look up and there it was. [0225] All over, at last. [0226] I sat on for a few moments with the ball in my hand and the dog yelping and pawing at me. [0227] (Pause.) [0228] Moments. [0228|001] (Pause.) [0229] Her moments. My moments. DOODLE 6 [0230] (Pause.) [0231] The dog's moments. [0232] (Pause.) [0233] In the end I held it out to him and he took it in his mouth, gently. [0234] A small old, black , [] solid rubber ball. [] [0235] (Pause.) [0236] [0236] [0237] [0238] [0239] [0240] [0235] (Pause.) [0236] I shall feel it, in my hand, until my dying day. [0237] (Pause.) [0238] I wish I had kept it. [0239] (Pause.) [0240] But I gave it to the dog.

[0241] Pause.

[0244] Spiritually a year of profound gloom and indigence until that memorable night in March, at the end of the pier, in the howling wind, never to be forgotten, when suddenly I saw the whole thing. [0245] The vision, at last. [0246] This I imagine is what I have chiefly to set down this evening, against the day when my work will be done and perhaps no place left in my memory, no thankfulness, for the miracle that...(hesitates)...for the fire that set it alight. [0247] What I suddenly saw then [] was this, [] that the belief I had been going on all my life, namely - [0248] (Krapp switches off impatiently, winds tape forward, switches on again) [0249] - granite rocks the foam flying up in the light of the beacon and the anemometer wind gauge spinning like a propellor, clear to me at last that the dark I [] have always struggled to keep under is in reality my most - [0250] (Krapp curses, switches off, winds tape forward, switches on again) [0251] - - unshatterable association until my ...(hesitates)...dissolution of storm and night with the light of the understanding and - [0252] (Krapp curses louder, switches off, winds tape violently forward, switches on again) [0253] - my face in her breasts and my hand on her. [0254] We lay there without moving. [0255] But underneath us all moved, and moved us, gently up and down, and from side to side.

[0256] Pause.

[0257] Past midnight. [0258] Never knew such silence. [0259] The earth might be uninhabited.

[0260] Pause.

[0261] Here I end -

[0262] Krapp switches off, winds tape back, switches on again.

[0263] - upper lake, with the punt, bathed off the bank, then pushed out into the stream and drifted. [0264] She lay stretched out on the floorboards with her hands under her head and her eyes closed. [0265] Sun blazing down, bit of a breeze, water nice and lively. [0266] I noticed a scratch on her thigh and asked her how she came by it. [0267] Picking gooseberries, she said. [0268] I said again I [p. 5r] thought it was hopeless and no good going on, and she agreed, without opening her eyes. [0269] (Pause.) [0270] I asked her to look at me and after a few moments - (pause) - after a few moments she did, but the eyes just slits, because of the glare. [0271] I bent over her to get them in the shadow and they opened. ([0272] Pause. [0273] Low.) [0274] Let me in. [0275] (Pause.) [0276] We drifted in among the reeds and stuck. [0277] The way they bent, sighing, before the stem! [0278] (Pause.) [0279] I lay down across her with my face in her breasts and my hand on her. [0280] We lay without moving. [0281] But underneath us all moved, and moved us, gently up and down, and from side to side.

[0282] Pause.

[0283] Past midnight. [0284] Never knew -

[0285] Krapp switches off, broods. [0286] Finally he fumbles in his waistcoat pockets, encounters the banana-skin, peers at it throws it away, fumbles, brings out the envelope, fumbles, puts back the envelope, looks at his watch, gets up and goes backstage into darkness. [0287] Ten seconds. [0288] Sound of bottle against glass, then brief siphon. [0289] Ten seconds. [0290] Bottle against glass alone. [0291] Ten seconds. [0292] He comes back a little unsteadily into light, goes to front of table, takes out keys, raises them to his eyes, unlocks banana drawer, peers and feels in it, locks it again, unlocks other drawer, peers and fumbles, takes out a fresh virgin? reel, holds it up [] high between finger and thumb, locks the drawer, goes and sits down, takes off pachine , lays it on top of dictionary, puts the fresh tape on machine, takes envelope from his pocket, consults back of it, lays in on the table, switches on, joins the tips of his finger , coughs and begins to record.

Krapp

[0293] Just been listening to that stupid bastard I took myself for thirty years ago, hard to believe I was ever as bad as that. [0294] []Thank God that's over anyway! [0295] (Pause.) [0296] The eyes she had! ([0297] Broods, realizes he is recording silence, switches off, broods. [0298] Finally.) [0299] Everything there, everything, all the - [0300] (Realizes this is not being recorded, switches on.) [0301] Everything there, everything on earth, all the light and dark and famine and feasting of...(hesitates)...the ages! [0302] ( In a shout.) [0303] Yes! [0304] (Pause.) [0305] Let that go! [0306] Jesus! [0307] Take his mind off his homework! [0308] Jesus! ([0309] Pause. [0310] Weary.) [0311] Ah well, maybe he was right. [0312] (Pause.) [0313] Maybe he was right. ([0314] Broods. [0315] Realizes. [0316] Switches off. [0317] Consults envelope.) [0318] Pah! ([0319] Crumples it and throws it away. [0320] Broods. [0321] Switches on.) [0322] Nothing to say, not a thing. [0323] What's a year now. [0324] Chewed cuds and hard stools. [0325] (Pause.) [0326] Revelled in the word spool. [0327] (With relish.) [0328] Spooool! [0329] Happiest moment of the year. [0330] (Pause.) [0331] Seventeen copies sold, of which eleven at half-price to free lending libraries overseas. [0332] Getting known. [0334] One pound six and something, eight I have little doubt. [0335] (Pause.) [0336] Crawled out once or twice, before the summer was corpsed. [0337] Sat in the park with the brats and skivvies, drowned in dreams and wishing I were gone. [0339] (Pause.) [0340] Last fancies. [0342] [] [] Go mad altogether if I don't keep them under. [] [0342|001] (Pause.) [0342|002] Resolutions. [0342|003] (Pause.) [0342|004] Aspirations. [0343] (Pause.) [0344] Scalded the eyes out of me reading Effie again, a page a day, with tears again. [0345] Effie... [0346](Pause.) [0347] Could have been happy with her, up there on the Baltic, and the pines, and the dunes. [0348] (Pause.) [0355] Fanny came in a couple of times. [0356] Bony old whore. [0357] Could[p. 6r]n't do much, but I suppose better than nothing. [0358] The last time wasn't so bad. [0359] How do you manage it, she said, at your age? [0360] I told her I'd been saving up for her all my life. [0361] (Pause.) [0362] Went to Vespers once, like when I was a child. ([0363] Pause. [0364] Sings.)

[0365] Now the day is over
Night is drawing nigh-igh,
Shadows - (fit of coughing Faintly) - of the evening
Steal across the sky.

[0367] Went to sleep and fell off the pew. [0368] (Pause.) [0369] Sometimes wondered in the night if a last effort mightn't - [0370] (Pause.) [0371] Ah drink out your poison now and get to your bed. [0372] Finish this puke in the morning. [0373] Or leave it at that. [0374] (Pause.) [0375] Leave it at that. [0376] (Pause.) [0377] Lie propped up in the dark - and wander. [0377|001] (Pause.) [0378] Be again in the dingle on a Christmas Eve, gathering holly. [0379] (Pause.) [0380] Be again on Croghan on a Sunday morning, in the haze, with the bitch, stop and listen to the bells. [0381] (Pause.) [0382] And so on. [0383] (Pause.) [0384] Be again, be again. [0385] (Pause.) [0386] All that old misery. [0387] (Pause.) [0388] Once wasn't enough [] for me. [0389] (Pause.) [0390] Lie down across her. ([0391] Long pause. [0392] He suddenly bends over machine, switches off, wrenches off tape, throws it away, puts on the other, winds it forward to the passage he wants, switches on, listens staring front.

Tape

[0393] - gooseberries, she said. [0394] I said again I thought it was hopeless and no good going on, and she agreed, without opening her eyes. [0396] [0395] (Pause.) [0396] I asked her to look at me and after a few moments - (pause.) - after a few moments she did, but the eyes just slits, because of the glare. [0397] I bent over her to get them in the shadow and they opened. ([0398] Pause. [0399] Low.) [0400] Let me in. [0401] (Pause.) [0402] We drifted in among the reeds and stuck. [0403] The way they bent, sighing, before the stem! [0404] (Pause.) [0405] I lay down across her with my face in her breasts and my hand on her. [0406] We lay without moving. [0407] But underneath us all moved, and moved us, gently up and down, and from side to side.

[0408] Pause. [0409] Krapp's lips move. [0410] No sound.

[0411] Past midnight. [0412] Never knew such silence. [0413] The earth might be uninhabited.

[0414] Pause.

[0415] Here I end this reel. [0416] Box - (pause) - three, spool -(pause)- five. [0417] (Pause.) [0418] perhaps my best years are gone. [0419] When there was a chance of happiness. [0420] But I wouldn't want them back. [0421] Not with the fire in me now. [0422] No, I wouldn't want them back.

[0423] Krapp motionless staring before him. [0424] The tape runs on in silence.

[0425] Curtain

for Jake Schwartz
Sam. Beckett
March 1958

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