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''Play'' is a one-act play by Samuel Beckett. It was written between 1962 and 1963 and first produced in German as ''Spiel'' on 14 June 1963 at the Ulmer Theatre in Ulm-Donau, Germany, directed by Deryk Mendel, with Nancy Illig (W1), Sigfrid Pfeiffer (W2) and Gerhard Winter (M). The first performance in English was on 7 April 1964 at the Old Vic in London. ==Synopsis== The curtain rises on three identical grey funeral “urns”,〔Ackerley, C. J. and Gontarski, S. E., (Eds.) ''The Faber Companion to Samuel Beckett'', (London: Faber and Faber, 2006), p 443〕 about three feet tall by preference,〔Beckett, S., ''Collected Shorter Plays of Samuel Beckett'' (London: Faber and Faber, 1984), p 159〕 arranged in a row facing the audience. They contain three stock characters. In the middle urn is a man (M). To his right is his wife (W1) or long-time partner. The third urn holds his mistress (W2). Their “()aces () so lost to age and aspect as to seem almost part of the urns.”〔Beckett, S., ''Collected Shorter Plays of Samuel Beckett'' (London: Faber and Faber, 1984), p 147〕 Beckett has used similar imagery before, Mahood’s jar in ''The Unnameable'', for example, or the dustbins occupied by Nell and Nagg in ''Endgame''. At the beginning and end of the play, a spotlight picks out all three faces, and all three characters recite their own lines, in what Beckett terms a "chorus";〔 the effect is unintelligible. The main part of this play is made up of short, occasionally fragmented sentences spoken in a “()apid tempo throughout”〔 “which in his 1978 rehearsals () likened to a lawn mower – a burst of energy followed by a pause, a renewed burst followed by another pause.”〔Ackerley, C. J. and Gontarski, S. E., (Eds.) ''The Faber Companion to Samuel Beckett'', (London: Faber and Faber, 2006), p 445〕 “He wrote each part separately, then interspersed them, working over the proper breaks in the speeches for a long time before he was satisfied.”〔Bair, D., ''Samuel Beckett: A Biography'' (London: Vintage, 1990), p 582〕 One character speaks at a time and only when a strong spotlight shines in his or her face. The style is reminiscent of Mouth’s logorrhoea () in ''Not I'', the obvious difference being that these characters constantly use first person pronouns. Clichés and puns abound. While one is talking the other two are silent and in darkness. They neither acknowledge the existence of the others around them (M: “To think we were never together”〔Beckett, S., ''Collected Shorter Plays of Samuel Beckett'' (London: Faber and Faber, 1984), p 156〕) nor appear aware of anything outside their own being and past (W2: “At the same time I prefer this to . . . the other thing. Definitely. There are endurable moments”〔Beckett, S., ''Collected Shorter Plays of Samuel Beckett'' (London: Faber and Faber, 1984), p 152〕). Beckett writes that this spotlight "provokes" the character's speech, and insists that whenever possible, a single, swivelling light should be used, rather than separate lights switching on and off. In this manner the spotlight is “expressive of a unique inquisitor”.〔Beckett, S., ''Collected Shorter Plays of Samuel Beckett'' (London: Faber and Faber, 1984), p 158〕 Billie Whitelaw referred to it as “an instrument of torture.”〔(From an unscripted interview with Billie Whitelaw by James Knowlson. A television recording made on 1 February 1977 for the University of London Audio-Visual Centre. )〕 The spotlight is in effect the play’s fourth character. In an almost fugal style the three obsess over the affair. Each presents his or her own version of the truth told in the past tense and each from his or her respective points of view. It is one of Beckett’s most ‘musical’ pieces with “a chorus for three voices, orchestration, stage directions concerning tempo, volume and tone, a ''da capo''〔In ''Proust'', Beckett refers to “the beautiful convention of ‘da capo’ … a testimony to the intimate and ineffable nature of an art that is perfectly intelligible and perfectly inexplicable.” – ''Proust'', (London: Chatto and Windus, 1931), p 15〕 repeat of the entire action”〔 and a short coda. Towards the end of the script, there is the concise instruction: "Repeat play."〔Beckett, S., ''Collected Shorter Plays of Samuel Beckett'' (London: Faber and Faber, 1984), p 157〕 Beckett elaborates on this in the notes, by saying that the repeat might be varied. “()n the London production, variations were introduced: a weakening of light and voices in the first repeat, and more so in the second; an abridged second opening; increasing breathlessness; changes in the order of the opening words.”〔 The purpose of this is to suggest a gradual winding down of the action for he writes of “the impression of falling off which this would give, with the suggestion of a conceivable dark and silence in the end, or of an indefinite approximating towards it.”〔Knowlson, J., (Ed.) ''Samuel Beckett: an Exhibition'' (London:Turret Books, 1971), p 92〕 At the end of this second repeat, the play appears as if it is about to start again for a third time (as in ''Act Without Words II''), but does not get more than a few seconds into it before it suddenly stops. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Play (play)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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