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Department of Fine
Arts
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| The
Francis Marion University Theatre's final mainstage production of the
2008-2009 season
will be An Evening of Beckett featuring two of
Samuel Beckett's one act plays, Endgame and Krapp's Last Tape. Samuel Beckett's work is considered the visual representation of the absurdist philosophy: A philosophy, often translated into art forms, holding that humans exist in a meaningless, irrational universe and that any search for order by them will bring them into direct conflict with this universe. Endgame: "Endgame has outraged the Philistines, earned the contempt of the half wits and filled those who are capable of telling the difference between a theatre and a bawdy house with a profound and somber and paradoxical joy. . . . A magnificent theatrical experience." London Sunday Times. As the play opens, Hamm is dying in a world that seems to be coming to an end. Hamm takes satisfaction in knowing that all of existence may fade to nothing. Hamm is confined to a chair, and throughout the play he discards, reluctantly, the continuing prospects of life: food; painkillers; his servant Clov, on whom he is totally dependent; the pole that enables him to move his wheelchair; and holding the dog, on which he lavishes his affection. Hamm’s parents, Nagg and Nell, having lost their legs many years ago in a bicycle accident, live in ashbins from which they occasionally emerge only to be cursed by their son. His mother dies and Hamm, knowing that Clov is leaving him, prepares for his last battle, first to outlive his father and then to face inevitable death without the help of the few objects that have given him comfort in his final days. Hamm soliloquizes in terms of the last moves in chess, a king evading checkmate as long as possible with stern asides on religion, ‘‘Get out of here and love one another! Lick your neighbor as yourself!’’ |
 An
Evening of Beckett - Endgame
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 An
Evening of Beckett - Krapp's Last Tape
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Krapp's
Last Tape: The Off Broadway sensation, a tour de force for one man, is the most affectionate portrait of a character that Beckett has ever done: an aging man who lives a lonely and shabby existence in a darkened room. At year's end he takes out a bottle of wine, a banana and his tape recorder, and he listens as his own voice from the past recounts the glories and hopes of his youth. This play is considered to be Beckett's most autobiographical work. Krapps Last Tape premiered in 1958 as a curtain raiser to a production of Endgame at the Royal Court Theatre in London. Reservations for An Evening of Beckett may be made beginning April 6 by calling the box office at 661-1365. The box office will be open to reserve seats Monday through Friday from 1 pm to 5 pm. All tickets are free to the public. Curtain is at 7:30. The Francis Marion University Theatre's 2008-2009 season opened with The Elephant Man. There was no Winter Production this season so the Francis Marion could host the Palmetto Dramatic Association / South Carolina Thespians High School Theatre Festival in February. For additional information contact Mr. Gourley in FAC 224, 661-1538, agourley@fmarion.edu. Interested in working "behind the scenes"? Contact Mr. Granath in FAC 222, 661-1536, dgranath@fmarion.edu. |
|
 The
Elephant Man - Fall 2008
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