HHHH
On the page, Footfalls is 1000 words at most. On-stage, in this tellingly orchestrated production, Beckett's text lengthens into a haunting meditation on the passing of time, and the way in which life – conditioned by our habits, our fears, our relationships – narrows into loneliness, as we wait for death to end it all.
That such brooding darkness can offer a poetic beauty is well understood by director Dominic Hill and by his cast of two: Kathryn Howden as May, the middle-aged daughter who is carer to Kay Gallie's (unseen) invalid mother. Howden's heels click rhythmically, like a death-watch beetle, as she paces within the ribbon-strip of light on the sombre stage. Her very clothes sigh as she moves. Her occasional voice holds on to the timbre of fading youth while, off-stage, Gallie's wanly sepulchral tones speak of her own imminent end – the regrets, the memories, the weariness, at once an echo and a future projection, of May's dwindling towards mortality.
Krapp's Last Tape – the first part of this utterly compelling double bill – has Gerard Murphy, pictured, in harrowing form as the solitary old growler driven to reconnect – by way of his audio diaries – with a younger self whose (taped) voice is his own, yet no longer his own. It's cocky with a self-belief that Krapp, 30 years on, snickeringly derides: the aspirational fire has crashed and burned. And yet, as he lumbers into the darkness for another gulp of booze, this rumpled saggy ancient still feels the need to assert his existence on what might be his last tape. Lizzie Powell's lighting lends limitless glooms to these profound shadowlands of the soul.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article