The Foxrock Foundation and Tristan Bates Theatre Present
Krapp, 39

22nd November - 22nd December (No Sundays)
7:30pm

Tickets: £13 / £10
(If you have a 2 for 1 promotional code please phone the box office to book)

BOOK NOW

020 7240 6283 / boxoffice@tristanbatestheatre.co.uk

www.krapp39.com
www.foxrockfoundation.com

Written and performed by Michael Laurence
Directed by George Demas

A character looking thirty years into the past...
An actor looking thirty years into the future...

....meet in Krapp, 39, a voyeuristic prefiguring of Samuel Beckett's Krapp's Last Tape, and a deeply personal window on one man's last moment of youth.

Reeling on his 39th birthday, an actor's obsessive identification with Beckett's famous character compels him to examine his own quixotic life: His fears, his failures, and his search for (and forfeiture of) love, all in preparation to record a version of the 39-year-old Krapp's soliloquy to be used in an imagined production of Krapp's Last Tape in the year 2038.

His hilarious and heart-breaking self-scrutiny plays out through intimate audio tapes, archival video, raw journal entries, haunted letters, racy confessions, and recorded conversations with the living and the lost.

Winner: "Outstanding Solo Show" (NY International Fringe Festival 2008)
Nominated for a 2009 Drama Desk Award ("Outstanding Solo Performance")

Press and Reviews

"it occupies a provoking limbo between performance and truth" - Time Out

"a poignant and often hilarious study of a Hornbyesque thirtysomething bloke who can't "fold a shirt, pitch a tent, boil spaghetti", its reflections on Beckett so intricately interwoven that even the TV monitor's automatic startup message, "Life's good", comes across like a witty Beckettian reference." - Observer

"This is a technically accomplished piece. Laurence makes entertaining use of modern recording devices, which he juxtaposes with a poignant script that is resplendent with lines such as: “A life of days flipped away like quarters at an arcade”" - The Stage

"Laurence is a compelling performer, directed with nouse and sensitivity to the challenge of such conscious use of technology in performance by George Demas. This is not the wildly self-indulgent piece it had the potential to be, but an intriguing and often sardonic, self-deprecatory exploration of man’s attempt to deal with isolation and rejection." - What's on Stage

"This autobiographical theatrical masterpiece is definitely worth seeing" - London Festival Fringe


"the performance touches upon a subtle brilliance" Remote Goat

Theatre Voice - An interview with Michael Laurence

A Piece of Monologue
IndieLondon

Reviews for the New York show

“A beautifully shaped, beautifully revealed work… Tremendously poignant, Krapp, 39 has a sort of intoxicating fatalism, considerable humor and it's an even funnier, more enlightening experience the second time around.” The New York Times/ “Critic's Pick”

“Krapp, 39 is a moving and wise retrospective of a man's soul: An homage to the self that somehow doesn't feel selfish.” Time Out NY/ “Critic's Pick”

“Krapp, 39 is no mere Beckett riff- it's a thoughtful response, a valuable contribution... A thing of startling, wounding beauty.” The Village Voice

“Michael Laurence's well-written solo piece is the actor's response to Beckett's Krapp's Last Tape, and its themes of “love, loss, art, death, and bananas.” Laurence creates a funny and lacerating self-portrait that earns its affiliation with the classic that inspired it.” The New Yorker

“Affecting...utterly unsparing...a funny and pitiless self-portrait. “Krapp,39,” is a complete surprise- and thus, hilarious. It's the same impulse that propelled Beckett's bleak play, and like his spiritual ancestor, Laurence has produced a priceless artifact." Variety

“Krapp, 39, is brilliant. The play is heartbreaking, hilarious, and enormously relevant." nytheatre.com

“A darkly funny portrait of a man struggling with issues both personal and professional, Krapp, 39 is far more than a mere homage, it is a moving and funny examination of the loss of youth.” The New York Post

“A rather grand tribute to Beckett's characters, Krapp, 39 is a rich and brutally honest examination of a life at mid-point, both dramatic and humorous. Eloquent and compelling, beautifully poetic.” Theatermania