Interpretation of Breath play: Samuel Beckett
Hello Friends!
While studying 'The Theatre of the Absurd' and Samuel Beckett's 'Waiting for Godot' in our Course, our professor discussed the film version of Beckett's Shortest play 'Breath' - thirty-seconds play and assigned us one of the most creative tasks to interpret this shortest play and shoot a small video.
Interpretation of Breath play : Samuel Beckett
Breath is a play written by Samuel Beckett in the 1969. It considered as a smallest play ever written. It is only about 30 second play. It also considered as experimental play. This play can be interpretated many ways. The play consider as absurd play. Here I tried to interpretate play.
Meaning of the Breath :
Breath means both life and death. In life it consider as the symbol of action. Sometimes person so much habituated of breathing. Person doesn't realise its actually importance for live life. The play reflects the reality of human life. It reflects meaningless and Existentialism. Meaningless in the sense that people has no any purpose of living life. We live life just waiting for death. Breathing help us to reach ultimately death. So Breath is the symbol of Bridge between life and death.
The script of the play:
CURTAIN Up
1. Faint light on stage littered with miscellaneous rubbish. Hold about five seconds.
2. Faint brief cry and immediately inspiration and slow increase of light together reaching maximum - together in about ten seconds. Silence and hold for about five seconds.
3. Expiration and slow decrease of light together reaching minimum together (light as in 1) in about ten seconds and immediately cry as before. Silence and hold about five seconds.
CURTAIN Down
Picturization of the play
The script is very short and perhaps it is written for the dramatization purpose. So, I've tried to shoot a video following the original script and also used crying and breathing sound.
Interpretation of the Play
If one tries to interpret such a short play, it can be said that it covers much absurdity and meaningless. As we know that Samuel Beckett is associated with Theatre of Absurd, his another play, "Waiting for Godot" is also an absurd play.
The title of the play Breath is very significant. It refers to life. The script of the play contains miscellaneous rubbish. This suggests boredom and anxiety. The brief cry also signifies life but it also suggest disgust, anguished, stressed, haphazard, pessimist and gloomy thinking. The play is very short so, this also significantly suggests that life is very short. All we have to do is just breath and cry. Crying for status, power, money, recognition, attachment, acceptance and what not. The beginning part of script suggest birth, as the light inspires and grows. The end part suggests death as the light and the sound gradually decreases. But the setup is very rubbish, so it suggests that life is nothing but a rubbish stuff, spread hither and thither. No matter how human tries to decorate the life, it will remain rubbish and coarse. This also relates with Albert Camus's Myth of Sisyphus.
No comments:
Post a Comment