Samuel Beckett: Play-Breath, interpretation

A Brief Introduction

 Breath is a very short stage work by Samuel Beckett, published in 1969. The length can be estimated from his detailed instruction in the script to be about 35 seconds. The play also has a background story, where Tynan a literary manager at the National Theatre in London, was devising Oh! Calcutta! and asked Samuel to write a brief erotic skit for an erotic review and Samuel agreed when he found that there are other contributors too but those are going to be listed anonymously in his writing.

Samuel Becket sent the postcard with the story to Tynan. But the story was altered to fit in with the risque nature of the revue by adding naked bodies to the bodies, suggesting that the work was about sexual intercourse. In one of his displays of anger, Samuel called Tynan 'liar' and a 'cheater', prompting Tynan to send a formal notice through his lawyer that the travesty for which he is claimed isn't due to him, but others are responsible. Getting him, Samuel decided, not to argue further.

The play by Damien Hirst. The scene is displayed with a systematic wrapped thing, of yellow colour, which generate in spectator mind a curiousity of what would be the purpose of the playwright to show something as such. But then moderating with patience, we move forward to see if any other things, by facilitating can highlight the essence of the play.

And gradually we see, some wrapped things, different types of trolleys, some kind of drugs, medicines, some air tight  boxes and scattered colouring papers(seems as a pile of rubbish: where people collectively throw their waste. In starting the scene has an expiration sound, followed by inspiration sound and if we symbolically interpret then It also suggests 'destruction' and then 'establishment'.

The play by Liana De Jourdan. It starts by highlighting the plain furnished floor of white(which seems to be mere a shade of sunlight at surface level) where the fruits and vegetables are scattered; banana, apple, cherry, cabbage,  onion, garlic, condensed milk etc(seems as all the things out from refrigerator as there is yet to find the existence of humanbeing, how one can find the existence of those things through which humans are retaining themselves. 

The scene commences with the sound of old stinging door(which isn't greased since long as someone is entering in old mansion unknowingly, happened to go there, and with awaiting eyes searching, if anyone there is existing in the house, accordingly to generate horror in spectator's mind and the mood of the scence, the sound is increased, leveled up and then decreased.

National Theatre School, first year technical production of Breath by Samuel Becket.

The scene first operate with dull lights with some wild sound of animal/any other wilder species where some empty metal cans and other littered things are highlighted scattered. Then gradually light's intensity is increasing and focusing upon center. From focus again it is decreasing and gradually fading away, with similar sound, voiced at first.

The scene starts from the blue smoke, upwards white. The white overpowers blue and evolving through bottom from red to light orange(Suggests imperialism and colonialism/first world war and second world war).

How all things are scattered on the floor, which shows that we humanbeings have evolved ourselves and  tried our best to evolve the nation, but what is the benefit of development, things are lying inanimately, without its usage. In similar manner the scene of the playing equipments are shown(As a boy/girl is exhausted by playing, so the things are lying in this way, he/she doesn't have even time to take things, and place those at their right place).

Similarly can be seen the light of destruction(As pollution has polluted the entire natural environment).

The touch of colonialism, post-colonialism, ecocriticism, environmental studies etc.

An experiment on Breath play by Samuel Beckett, interpreting through colonial perspective.

Works Cited

Barad, Dilip., "Interpretation Challenge:Breath:The Shortest Play", Dilip Barad's blog,  15th September, 2014. https://blog.dilipbarad.com/2014/09/interpretation-challenge-breath.html?m=1.

Adopted References

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breath_(play)

http://www.openculture.com/2015/03/take-a-breath-and-watch-samuel-becketts-one-minute-play.html

"Breath", By Samiya Kagdi, Adapted from Samuel Beckett's Original play with the same title.