Samuel Beckett’s dystopian shocker WHAT WHERE (1983 play/2000 film, 12 mins.)

Just in time for a happy new year!

"In Beckett’s final--and very brief--play, the 'last five' haunt a shadowy and constrained world. A voice emanating from a loudspeaker controls and directs the cycles of interrogation and torture between the characters. He demands the extraction of information, the 'what' and 'where' of some unknown thing or event. The methods keep shifting, however, making a confession increasingly difficult to elicit. Or are we only hearing the voices inside one man’s head?”

Because the play is so short and cryptic, this meeting will be more interactive, as we will try to unlock the story of this challenging text together.

The Film:

WHAT WHERE (2000)
Directed by Damien O’Donnell
Based on the 1983 play by Samuel Beckett
With Sean McGinley and Gary Lewis
12 mins.
Available to stream at youtu.be/3Ibv2o2iQXU?si=d37IAuqKO3vwGGIa or youtu.be/urD_vuA6syE?si=AFcW3aYNZS0Ca-4j

The Play:

WHAT WHERE
By Samuel Beckett
First performed in 1983
archive.org/details/collectedshorter0000beck/page/306/mode/2up Pages 309 to 316 only)