Stops and Starts. Krapp’s Last Tape and Post-Dictatorship Argentina

Abstract

This article examines Samuel Beckett’s play Krapp’s Last Tape in the context of Argentinian post-dictatorship theatre. I offer a brief history of Beckett’s influence on theatre in Argentina together with a summary of the performance history of his plays, and I reflect on the ways in which they have been interpreted in Argentina’s recent history. This contextualization enables me to focus on the figure of Krapp and discuss the stops and starts that Krapp performs while playing and recording his tapes. By examining Krapp’s archive, the article engages in a discussion about individual and collective memory: I draw attention to the play’s resonances in relation to the political processes unfolding in Argentina today, where archives are of vital importance in recovering from the social trauma of the last dictatorship.