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All That Fall and Other Plays for Radio and Screen
An alternate cover for this ISBN can be found here.
This new edition brings together all of Beckett's dramatic writings for radio, television and film, offering works which range from eloquent comic naturalism to an eviscerated and pared-down symbolism. Above all, Beckett found his unique uses for the radio-play, a medium 'for voices not bodies', compacted of speech, sound and silence - and the plays in this volume intently explore the resources and limits of the sound-stage.
My father, back from the dead, to be with me. (Pause.) As if he hadn't died. (Pause.) No, simply back from the dead, to be with me, in this strange place. (Pause.) Can he hear me? (Pause.) Yes, he must hear me. (Pause.) To answer me? (Pause.) No, he doesn't answer me. (Pause.) Just be with me. (Pause.) That sound you hear is the sea. (Pause. Louder.) I say that sound you hear is the sea, we are sitting on the strand. (Pause.) I mention it because the sound is so strange, so unlike the sound of the sea, that if you didn't see what it was you wouldn't know what it was. (Pause.). Hooves!
Contents: All That Fall, Embers, Words and Music, Eh Joe, Quad, Film, ...but the clouds..., Ghost Trio, Nacht und Traume, Rough for Radio I, Rough for Radio II, Cascando, The Old Tune
Preface and Notes by Everett Frost
This new edition brings together all of Beckett's dramatic writings for radio, television and film, offering works which range from eloquent comic naturalism to an eviscerated and pared-down symbolism. Above all, Beckett found his unique uses for the radio-play, a medium 'for voices not bodies', compacted of speech, sound and silence - and the plays in this volume intently explore the resources and limits of the sound-stage.
My father, back from the dead, to be with me. (Pause.) As if he hadn't died. (Pause.) No, simply back from the dead, to be with me, in this strange place. (Pause.) Can he hear me? (Pause.) Yes, he must hear me. (Pause.) To answer me? (Pause.) No, he doesn't answer me. (Pause.) Just be with me. (Pause.) That sound you hear is the sea. (Pause. Louder.) I say that sound you hear is the sea, we are sitting on the strand. (Pause.) I mention it because the sound is so strange, so unlike the sound of the sea, that if you didn't see what it was you wouldn't know what it was. (Pause.). Hooves!
Contents: All That Fall, Embers, Words and Music, Eh Joe, Quad, Film, ...but the clouds..., Ghost Trio, Nacht und Traume, Rough for Radio I, Rough for Radio II, Cascando, The Old Tune
Preface and Notes by Everett Frost
212 pages, Paperback
Published November 1, 2009
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
July 31, 2020
Of all the authors I have read, I find Beckett to be the most challenging by far. In much the same way as reading textbooks and scholarly works (meaning books meant to teach first and foremost and not to entertain or take one's mind off the day or transport you to another world/time/perspective), reading Beckett forces you to pay full attention to every single word. You can't skim Beckett, or if you do, then you are not reading Beckett at all, for by skipping or eliding or jumping ahead you miss the point. The words, the cadences, the repetitions, the minimalism, the circularity, the now-ness. Beckett demands your attention and immersion, or maybe he just expects it. Why else read? Why words? Why? I won't get into over-reviewing each specific text in any Beckett book as I find that defeatist, or maybe beyond my ken. Often it’s merely words on the page given meaning by how the reader interprets/intuits/internalizes them. I say Beckett is unequaled, unmatched, unsurpassed, but that is just one opinion. Still, I say read him, often, and again…
So, genius.
Beckett’s plays for radio, film, and television are fabulous insights into his creative genius, and his writings/notes about their creation, direction, and presentation show a keen understanding of the vast, often unbridgeable gulf, between sight and sound, and how each requires its own rigor to design and perfect. I have read several of the plays previously - being the keen Beckett completist I have one 4-book collection that highlights his shorter plays and a few solo volumes that overlap in what plays they present, depending on the whim of the publisher - and I find them just as fabulous upon repetition. As with his other stage work, his notes for how the productions must be presented are often as long as the plays themselves. Beckett did everything full bore, assuredly, but he seems to have had quite the affinity for the dramatic, regardless of the medium of presentation. Not that his prose and poetry is wanting, but his meticulousness and perfectionism and understanding of space, vision, sound, and placement are rather heightened in his plays. And maybe even more so in the radio selections, as he stated many times they could not be staged, as in acted out, as that changes them from what they are, what they are meant to convey, into something they are not, into something else unrecognizable by the artist (read: seeing them ruins the play, which is meant to be heard). Some might argue this is silliness, and I would say those people don't/won't understand Beckett, or respect the idea that an art object is defined first and foremost by the artist, its creator. How the viewer/reader/listener defines it is separate, and not necessarily different, but surely not of primary importance.
I wonder how radio, TV, and film people worked with someone of Beckett's stature and intellect. It must have been quite amazing to be a part of anything he did, on any scale.
I would choose "Quad I" as my favorite in this volume, as it borders on the obsessively designed - even generating a Quad II in his Notes - and would surely be quite striking to see performed.
So, genius.
Beckett’s plays for radio, film, and television are fabulous insights into his creative genius, and his writings/notes about their creation, direction, and presentation show a keen understanding of the vast, often unbridgeable gulf, between sight and sound, and how each requires its own rigor to design and perfect. I have read several of the plays previously - being the keen Beckett completist I have one 4-book collection that highlights his shorter plays and a few solo volumes that overlap in what plays they present, depending on the whim of the publisher - and I find them just as fabulous upon repetition. As with his other stage work, his notes for how the productions must be presented are often as long as the plays themselves. Beckett did everything full bore, assuredly, but he seems to have had quite the affinity for the dramatic, regardless of the medium of presentation. Not that his prose and poetry is wanting, but his meticulousness and perfectionism and understanding of space, vision, sound, and placement are rather heightened in his plays. And maybe even more so in the radio selections, as he stated many times they could not be staged, as in acted out, as that changes them from what they are, what they are meant to convey, into something they are not, into something else unrecognizable by the artist (read: seeing them ruins the play, which is meant to be heard). Some might argue this is silliness, and I would say those people don't/won't understand Beckett, or respect the idea that an art object is defined first and foremost by the artist, its creator. How the viewer/reader/listener defines it is separate, and not necessarily different, but surely not of primary importance.
I wonder how radio, TV, and film people worked with someone of Beckett's stature and intellect. It must have been quite amazing to be a part of anything he did, on any scale.
I would choose "Quad I" as my favorite in this volume, as it borders on the obsessively designed - even generating a Quad II in his Notes - and would surely be quite striking to see performed.
December 9, 2011
Samuel Beckett’s genius for language is on display again in this play written for the radio. Mrs. Rooney drags herself to meet her blind husband at the station and take him home. Her comedic conversations along the way reveal especially Beckett’s tremendous powers of dialogue. There are small, wonderful phrases throughout, unremarkable alone, that add up. A perfect is example is when Mr. Tyler defends himself to Mrs. Rooney as his bell ringing startles her. She says, “your bell is one thing, Mr. Tyler, and you are another. What news of your poor daughter?” (8) Later, there is absolutely hilarious language between Mr. and Mrs. Rooney. She is disturbed to find that a doctor could not tell her anything about her lifelong fascination with horses’ buttocks. Mrs. Rooney in the end pronounces “The Lord upholdeth all that fall and raiseth up all those that be bowed down.” (34) I will not spoil the shocking ending, but he play is appropriately titled.
July 26, 2017
A collection of Beckett's radio and television plays. Many of Beckett's stage plays work well enough as literature, however, these plays, to Beckett's own insistence, do not work as literature nearly as well; they are clearly meant to be enjoyed within the medium for which they were written. "All that Fall" is an interesting work, and improves upon a little research into the usage of imagery, and "Embers" and "Eh Joe!" are also very interesting. The rest have value for Beckett die-hards, but would make little sense to those not familiar with Beckett's work.
June 4, 2013
Darkly comic, weird, absurd, abstruse, mundane ... Beckett ... the arduous and exhausting journey back and forward through the children and animals to the station for a train that's 15 minutes late... shocking ending.
December 3, 2014
3.5, I think. Samuel Beckett is a genius, but that doesn't make him enjoyable.
December 2, 2019
An excellent of Samuel Becketts plays for radio and screen.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews