Theater: Boredom's Brimstone

PLAY AND OTHER PLAYS by Samuel Beckett

The architectural dictum "Less is more" can be applied to plays as well as buildings. A simple structure can be grander than an ornate one, and a few words from a great playwright can say more than volumes from a second-rater. No one has matched principle and practice as closely as Samuel Beckett. Some of his plays, indeed, are so spare that they can scarcely be said to exist: one new work is only 35 seconds long and dispenses with actors altogether, making use only of lights, sets and sounds.

In his best plays, Waiting for...

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