Local veteran actor and novelist performs great 20th century drama
Each birthday, Krapp, a failed writer, records on tape his thoughts and impressions of the previous year. But on his 69th he relives a forty year past pivotal love affair that he’d largely forgotten. Krapp’s Last Tape, a one-act play, is a masterpiece of twentieth-century theatre by one of its legends – Samuel Beckett, author of Waiting for Godot, Happy Days, and Endgame. Written in 1958, it is perhaps Beckett’s most autobiographical work, a riveting exploration of an artist’s life set against the inexorable march of time, a haunting exploration of how our past continues to dominate our present.
Gerald Vanderwoude has been fascinated by the work of Samuel Beckett for more than twenty-five years. He has directed over 30 productions of Beckett’s plays, working closely with a small group of UBC Theatre Alumni. “Beckett is a voyage into infinite emotional space. A musical score re-played again and again with intricate and subtle variations. It is wonderful to be able to bring that score to life and to provide audiences with an experience of that work. I am also thrilled to be working alongside long-term collaborator Chris Humphreys in this legendary role.”
Chris Humphreys is an actor, novelist, playwright, and resident of Salt Spring Island. He has acted on stages from London’s West End to Hollywood in theatre roles such as Hamlet, Jack Absolute in ‘The Rivals’, and Solness in Ibsen’s ‘The Master Builder’. On screen, he has played, amongst others, a cockney con man in ‘Coronation Street’ and a gladiator in NBC’s ‘AD – Anno Domini’. His novel, ‘Plague’ won the Arthur Ellis Best Crime Novel in Canada in 2015. His new novel, out next month, is a 1930’s thriller, ‘Chasing the Wind’. His play, ‘Shakespeare’s Rebel’ was performed at Bard on the Beach in 2015. He directed and acted in exitStageLeft Production’s ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ at Moat Park in 2016. “Krapp is like Hamlet – a role that actors seek out as a challenge. In recent years it has been played by John Hurt, Brian Dennehy, and Harold Pinter. I am so honoured to follow them.”
Krapp’s Last Tape plays at ArtSpring May 8 & 9 7:30pm | bar 6:30pm. In addition, a special performance for GISS will take place at ArtSpring on May 8. www.artspring.ca | info@artspring.ca | (250) 537.2102
ArtSpring is grateful to Kate Merry for sponsoring this performance.
