Rockaby

Rockaby [' rakəbai ] is a short one-act play by Samuel Beckett wrote in 1980 for the State University of New York. This was a symposium on the 75th anniversary of Beckett organize and had asked him for a contribution. Rockaby was premiered on April 8, 1981, directed by Alan Schneider in Buffalo.

The title refers to the name of a somewhat coarse humorous English nursery rhyme, its most popular version, similar to the German counterpart " Hoppe, hoppe, Reiter " ends up having a baby from a tree falls, because the branch breaks, on its cradle read: " rock-a- bye baby, on the treetop / When the wind blows, the cradle will rock / When the bough breaks, the cradle will fall, / and down will come baby, cradle and ave "

Action

Rockaby shows the dying of an old lady. Dressed in black she sits motionless in the rocking chair her deceased mother, begins always triggered as if by magic the rocking motion when "more" demands. Her face is pale, her hair is gray, her eyes huge. The stage is empty and dark. You can hear is her monotone voice that does not come out of her mouth, but from the tape, and you in the form of a rhythmic radio play, borne by the meter of the rocking chair, telling stories of her past and her dead mother.

Four times is the woman with her ( every time little softer ) "More " the chair and the voice of the character for the continuation of the acoustic game, three times she stops it by a small veto again. Even this objection and the rocking of her chair every time hesitant and gentle. At the end of the piece you are waiting in vain for their interruption. Nevertheless Rocking gradually comes to a halt, while the woman is slowly lowered his head and dies.

Footnotes

Literary work
Literature ( 20th century)
Literature ( English )
Drama
Work of Samuel Beckett

Buffalo, New York Endgame (play) Krapp's Last Tape Play (play) Breath (play) That Time Footfalls

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