HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

''Catastrophe'' is a short play by
Samuel Beckett Samuel Barclay Beckett (; 13 April 1906 – 22 December 1989) was an Irish novelist, dramatist, short story writer, theatre director, poet, and literary translator. His literary and theatrical work features bleak, impersonal and tragicomic expe ...
, written in French in 1982 at the invitation of A.I.D.A. (Association Internationale de Défense des Artistes) and “ rst produced in the Avignon Festival (21 July 1982) … Beckett considered it ‘massacred.’” It is one of his few plays to deal with a political theme and, arguably, holds the title of Beckett's most optimistic work. Beckett "wrote the short play ''Catastrophe'' about control and censorship" and dedicated it to the Czech dramatist Václav Havel, who was in prison at the time. Havel wrote a play called ''Mistake'' "as a response to the one Beckett had written in
solidarity ''Solidarity'' is an awareness of shared interests, objectives, standards, and sympathies creating a psychological sense of unity of groups or classes. It is based on class collaboration.''Merriam Webster'', http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictio ...
." "In February 1984, in one of the most significant milestones in the history of ''
Index on Censorship Index on Censorship is an organization campaigning for freedom of expression, which produces a quarterly magazine of the same name from London. It is directed by the non-profit-making Writers and Scholars International, Ltd (WSI) in association w ...
'', both plays were published for the first time." In January 2022, after almost 38 years, in 50th birthday celebration of ''Index'', they asked "Iranian playwright Reza Shirmarz to write his own response to Beckett's ''Catastrophe''." Shirmarz wrote his play
Muzzled
' which was published by ''Index'' as a dramatic response to Beckett's ''Catastrophe''. Giving his viewpoints on Beckett's play in an interview with ''Index'', Shirmarz said that "''Catastrophe'' is about censored communication, the ritualistic representation and the symbolic image of human relationship constrained by external forces, a deterministic, political and post-dramatic text which demonstrates how humans are coerced to be and live in a torturous limbo. n ''Catastrophe'' Beckett's Protagonist is deprived of free will by the systems surrounding him and the systematic control imposed by others, except at the moment he moves his head up and looks at the spectators. Despite his psychosomatic pain, he talks through his silence and protests through his immobility. As so-called social factors and audiences, we are reminded by the playwright that we are not able to get out of the cage the sociopolitical conventions have imprisoned us in and we must abide by the unbreachable laws brought in by the global structures and conglomerates in order to survive."


Synopsis

An autocratic Director and his female Assistant put the “‘ nal touches to the last scene’ of some kind of dramatic presentation”, which consists entirely of a man (The Protagonist) standing still onstage. The Assistant has arranged the man as she has seen fit to, atop a “black block 18” high”, draped in a “black dressing gown ownto isankles” and – peculiarly – sporting a “black wide-brimmed hat.” The bulk of the drama consists of the Director wresting control from her and moulding the man on stage to suit his personal vision. “The Director call for light, both for his
cigar A cigar is a rolled bundle of dried and fermented tobacco leaves made to be smoked. Cigars are produced in a variety of sizes and shapes. Since the 20th century, almost all cigars are made of three distinct components: the filler, the binder l ...
which is constantly going out and for the spectacle of the Protagonist on stage.” The Director is an irritable and impatient man, his annoyance likely exacerbated by the fact that he has another appointment, “a
caucus A caucus is a meeting of supporters or members of a specific political party or movement. The exact definition varies between different countries and political cultures. The term originated in the United States, where it can refer to a meeting ...
”,Beckett, S., ''Collected Shorter Plays of Samuel Beckett'' (London: Faber and Faber, 1984), p 298 to attend and his time there is limited. He expresses concern with the overall appearance and demands that the coat and hat be removed leaving the man “shivering” in his “old grey pyjamas.” He has the man's fists unclenched and then joined, the only suggestion of his Assistant's that he pays any heed to; once arranged at breast-height he is satisfied. (Beckett explained to James Knowlson that when he was composing ''Catastrophe'', “In my mind was Dupuytren’s contracture (from which I suffer) which reduces hands to claws.”) The Director dismisses his Assistant's proposal to have the man gagged (“This craze for explicitation!”) or to “show his face … just for an instant.”Beckett, S., ''Collected Shorter Plays of Samuel Beckett'' (London: Faber and Faber, 1984), p 300 He also has her make notes to whiten all the exposed flesh. In a moment of respite, when the Director leaves the stage, his Assistant collapses into his chair then springs out and wipes it vigorously, as if to avoid contamination, before reseating herself. This helps the audience appreciate better her relationship to each of the parties. She is after all the one who dressed the Protagonist warmly and who – twice – highlights the fact that he is shivering. In some ways she is just “another victim rather than a collaborator.” Finally they rehearse lighting with the
theatre technician A theatrical technician (also known as a tech, technician, theatre tech, theatre technician, or techie) is a person who operates technical equipment and systems in the performing arts and entertainment industry. In contrast to performers, this ...
(the never-seen "Luke"). The play-within-a-play lasts only a few seconds: from darkness, to light falling on the man's head and then darkness again. Finally the Director exclaims: "There's our catastrophe! In the bag" and asks for one last run through before he has to leave. He imagines the rising of the expectant applause on the opening day (“Terrific! He’ll have them on their feet. I can hear it from hereBeckett, S., ''Collected Shorter Plays of Samuel Beckett'' (London: Faber and Faber, 1984), p 301). The man has become, as
John Calder John Mackenzie Calder (25 January 1927 – 13 August 2018) was a Scottish-Canadian writer and publisher who founded the company Calder Publishing in 1949. Biography Calder was born in Montreal, Canada, into the Calder family associated with the ...
puts it, “a living statue portraying, from the director’s point of view, the quiescent, unprotesting victim, a symbol of the ideal citizen of a totalitarian regime.”Calder, J., Review: Three Beckett Plays at the Harold Clurman Theatre, New York, 1983, '' Journal of Beckett Studies'', Nos 11 and 12, December 1989 However, in an act of defiance, the man looks up into the audience (after having been looking down the entire time); the “applause falters and dies.” A
Pyrrhic victory A Pyrrhic victory ( ) is a victory that inflicts such a devastating toll on the victor that it is tantamount to defeat. Such a victory negates any true sense of achievement or damages long-term progress. The phrase originates from a quote from P ...
perhaps. However “the figure’s unexpected movement seems to happen not in the director’s imagined timespace but in the timespace of 'actual''performance. The moment is unsettling … We do not know why the figure has reacted like this; we do not know when the reaction happens; we do not know where the reaction takes place.” Beckett told Mel Gussow that “it was not his intention to have the character make an appeal … He is a triumphant martyr rather than a sacrificial victim … and it is meant to cow onlookers into submission through the intensity of his gaze and
stoicism Stoicism is a school of Hellenistic philosophy founded by Zeno of Citium in Athens in the early 3rd century Common Era, BCE. It is a philosophy of personal virtue ethics informed by its system of logic and its views on the natural world, asser ...
,”


Interpretations

The title requires some clarification. “In the words of
Aristotle Aristotle (; grc-gre, Ἀριστοτέλης ''Aristotélēs'', ; 384–322 BC) was a Greek philosopher and polymath during the Classical Greece, Classical period in Ancient Greece. Taught by Plato, he was the founder of the Peripatet ...
: ‘ catastrophe is an action bringing ruin and pain on stage, herewounds and other similar sufferings are performed,’”. Malone refers to “Catastrophe … in the old sense … be buried alive in lava and not turn a hair, it is then a man shows what stuff he is made of.” The more obvious definition applies of course to the act of defiance itself; the effect is nothing less than catastrophic. The play is often singled out amongst the Beckett canon as being overtly political even though similar claims could be made for '' What Where'' and '' Rough for Radio II''. The play is still a Beckett play and as such it is unwise to limit ones reading of it. "When ... asked about the political significance of ''Catastrophe'', he raised his arms in a gesture of impatience and made just one remark: 'It is not more political than ''Pochade Radiophonique''’”, ''Rough for Radio II'', as the latter is known in English."


Political

The play can be viewed as an
allegory As a literary device or artistic form, an allegory is a narrative or visual representation in which a character, place, or event can be interpreted to represent a hidden meaning with moral or political significance. Authors have used allegory ...
on the power of totalitarianism and the struggle to oppose it, the protagonist representing people ruled by dictators (the director and his aide). By "tweak nghim until his clothing and posture project the required image of pitiful dejectednes

they exert their control over the silenced figure. “The Director’s reifying of the Protagonist can be seen as an attempt to reduce a living human being to the status of an icon of impotent suffering. But, at the end of the play, he reasserts his humanity and his individuality in a single, vestigial, yet compelling movement.”Knowlson, J., ''Damned to Fame: The Life of Samuel Beckett'' (London: Bloomsbury, 1996), p 679 In answer to a reviewer who claimed that the ending was ambiguous Beckett replied angrily: “There’s no ambiguity there at all. He’s saying, you bastards, you haven’t finished me yet.”


Theatrical

A filmed version of ''Catastrophe'' was directed by
David Mamet David Alan Mamet (; born November 30, 1947) is an American playwright, filmmaker, and author. He won a Pulitzer Prize and received Tony nominations for his plays ''Glengarry Glen Ross'' (1984) and '' Speed-the-Plow'' (1988). He first gained cri ...
for the ''
Beckett on Film ''Beckett on Film'' was a project aimed at making film versions of all nineteen of Samuel Beckett's stage plays, with the exception of the early and unperformed '' Eleutheria''. This endeavour was successfully completed, with the first films bei ...
'' project. It starred playwright and Beckett enthusiast
Harold Pinter Harold Pinter (; 10 October 1930 – 24 December 2008) was a British playwright, screenwriter, director and actor. A Nobel Prize winner, Pinter was one of the most influential modern British dramatists with a writing career that span ...
as the Director, and featured the last on-camera appearance of the British actor,
John Gielgud Sir Arthur John Gielgud, (; 14 April 1904 – 21 May 2000) was an English actor and theatre director whose career spanned eight decades. With Ralph Richardson and Laurence Olivier, he was one of the trinity of actors who dominated the Briti ...
as the Protagonist (he died only a few weeks later). This version has been somewhat controversial, as Mamet chose to film it as a realist piece: the scene takes place in an actual theatre, and the principals are dressed as a director and his assistant might look. “When the director (D) made his peremptory demands for light from his female assistant (A) he received it not for his cigar, as in the original, but in the form of torchlight for his script. This weakened the sense of gratuitous offensiveness hanging about the character. D., played by Pinter, received rather too much camera attention and a patient John Gielgud rather too little, above all at the final moment” when he raises his head in defiance. Some critics have argued that this interpretation takes away from the tyrannical theme of the play. Mamet also changes Beckett's stage direction concerning the Protagonist's hands, substituting a finger pointing for the hands joined. This is not the only version that has taken liberties with the staging. “When ''Catastrophe'' was performed in the Beckett Festival on 15 September 1999, the director Robert O’Mahoney, interpreted the climax very differently
rom the way Beckett had Rom, or ROM may refer to: Biomechanics and medicine * Risk of mortality, a medical classification to estimate the likelihood of death for a patient * Rupture of membranes, a term used during pregnancy to describe a rupture of the amniotic sac * ...
After Johnny Murphy raised his head and glared with great dignity at the audience, his lips parted and stretched into an imitation of
Edvard Munch Edvard Munch ( , ; 12 December 1863 – 23 January 1944) was a Norwegian painter. His best known work, '' The Scream'' (1893), has become one of Western art's most iconic images. His childhood was overshadowed by illness, bereavement and the d ...
’s ''
The Scream ''The Scream'' is a composition created by Norwegian artist Edvard Munch in 1893. The agonized face in the painting has become one of the most iconic images of art, seen as symbolizing the anxiety of the human condition. Munch's work, including ...
''. This nullified the impact of the ending, as Protagonist was reduced to nothing more than an abject silently screaming victim.”Brown, V.,
Yesterday’s Deformities: A Discussion of the Role of Memory and Discourse in the Plays of Samuel Beckett
'', (doctoral thesis) p 166
''Catastrophe'' is not only about a political situation and the place of the artist in it. The victim or “protagonist” is also representative of all actors, having to portray what writers write for them in the way directors tell them to do it (Beckett is not unaware of his own relationship with actors, particularly those who in the past have resisted his stage directions). The director in the play catches two prototypes, that of the political commissar and of the all-powerful personality director like
Peter Brook Peter Stephen Paul Brook (21 March 1925 – 2 July 2022) was an English theatre and film director. He worked first in England, from 1945 at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre, from 1947 at the Royal Opera House, and from 1962 for the Royal Shak ...
, Vitez, amet or O’Mahoney who bend a performance to their own interpretation, where often the victim is the author himself; there are many “in” theatrical jokes. The director's assistant coolly carries out her instructions, and it matters little if we are in a
concentration camp Internment is the imprisonment of people, commonly in large groups, without charges or intent to file charges. The term is especially used for the confinement "of enemy citizens in wartime or of terrorism suspects". Thus, while it can simp ...
or a
film studio A film studio (also known as movie studio or simply studio) is a major entertainment company or motion picture company that has its own privately owned studio facility or facilities that are used to make films, which is handled by the production ...
: all humane considerations are ruled out to achieve the ultimate work of art. The two-pronged
metaphor A metaphor is a figure of speech that, for rhetorical effect, directly refers to one thing by mentioning another. It may provide (or obscure) clarity or identify hidden similarities between two different ideas. Metaphors are often compared wit ...
is incredibly effective for all its surface simplicity. In time, as with all of Beckett's work, more strands and
allusion Allusion is a figure of speech, in which an object or circumstance from unrelated context is referred to covertly or indirectly. It is left to the audience to make the direct connection. Where the connection is directly and explicitly stated (as ...
s will be discovered.


Personal

“The play has also been related to Beckett’s own horror at self-exposure, and linked to the essentially exhibitionist nature of theatre. It has been seen as demonstrating the impossibility for an artist to shape his work in such a way that it reveals what he intends it to reveal; art in the end escapes him.”


References


External links


Text of the play
{{DEFAULTSORT:Catastrophe (Play) 1982 plays Plays by Samuel Beckett Theatre of the Absurd