''Ohio Impromptu'' is a "playlet" 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 English in 1980, it began as a favour to
S.E. Gontarski, who requested a dramatic piece to be performed at an academic symposium in
Columbus, Ohio
Columbus () is the state capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Ohio. With a 2020 census population of 905,748, it is the 14th-most populous city in the U.S., the second-most populous city in the Midwest, after Chicago, and t ...
in honour of Beckett’s seventy-fifth birthday. Beckett was uncomfortable writing to order and struggled with the piece for nine months before it was ready. It was first performed on 9 May 1981 at the Stadium II Theater;
Alan Schneider
Alan Schneider (December 12, 1917 – May 3, 1984) was an American theatre director responsible for more than 100 theatre productions. In 1984 he was honored with a Drama Desk Special Award for serving a wide range of playwrights. He directed th ...
directed with David Warrilow as "Reader" and Rand Mitchell as "Listener".
"It is the first Beckett play to present a
Doppelgänger
A doppelgänger (), a compound noun formed by combining the two nouns (double) and (walker or goer) (), doppelgaenger or doppelganger is a biologically unrelated look-alike, or a double, of a living person.
In fiction and mythology, a doppelg ...
on stage, another Beckett pair, but this time seen as
mirror image
A mirror image (in a plane mirror) is a reflected duplication of an object that appears almost identical, but is reversed in the direction perpendicular to the mirror surface. As an optical effect it results from reflection off from substances ...
s; it belongs to Beckett’s
ghost
A ghost is the soul or spirit of a dead person or animal that is believed to be able to appear to the living. In ghostlore, descriptions of ghosts vary widely from an invisible presence to translucent or barely visible wispy shapes, to rea ...
period, where phantoms that echo the haunting quality of memory and
nostalgia
Nostalgia is a sentimentality for the past, typically for a period or place with happy personal associations. The word ''nostalgia'' is a learned formation of a Greek language, Greek compound, consisting of (''nóstos''), meaning "homecoming", ...
in his work are seen or described on stage."
[Calder, J.]
Review: Three Beckett Plays at the Harold Clurman Theatre, New York, 1983
, ''Journal of Beckett Studies
The ''Journal of Beckett Studies'' publishes academic articles relating to the work of Samuel Beckett, (1906–1989), the Irish poet, dramatist and playwright. Published twice yearly by Edinburgh University Press in April and September, it was ...
'', Nos 11 and 12, December 1989
Synopsis
Characters and action
Two old men are sitting at
right angles
In geometry and trigonometry, a right angle is an angle of exactly 90 degrees or radians corresponding to a quarter turn. If a ray is placed so that its endpoint is on a line and the adjacent angles are equal, then they are right angles. T ...
to each other beside a
rectangular
In Euclidean geometry, Euclidean plane geometry, a rectangle is a quadrilateral with four right angles. It can also be defined as: an equiangular quadrilateral, since equiangular means that all of its angles are equal (360°/4 = 90°); or a par ...
table. They are "
alike in appearance as possible"
[Beckett, S., ''Collected Shorter Plays of Samuel Beckett'' (London: Faber and Faber, 1984), p 285] both wearing long black coats and possessing long white hair. The table is white as are the chairs. The character known as "Listener" is facing the audience but his head is bowed and his face hidden. The other character, "Reader’s" posture is similar the only difference being that he has a book in front of him open at the last pages. A single "
ack wide-brimmed hat"
is sitting on the table. The characters "could have been borrowed from
Rembrandt
Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (, ; 15 July 1606 – 4 October 1669), usually simply known as Rembrandt, was a Dutch Golden Age painter, printmaker and draughtsman. An innovative and prolific master in three media, he is generally consid ...
" or from
Gerard ter Borch
Gerard ter Borch (; December 1617 – 8 December 1681), also known as Gerard Terburg (), was a Dutch genre painter who lived in the Dutch Golden Age. He influenced fellow Dutch painters Gabriel Metsu, Gerrit Dou, Eglon van der Neer and Johanne ...
's ''Four Spanish Monks'' although no specific painting was suggested by Beckett himself as an inspiration. "
Rubin’s figure-ground experiments" have also been suggested.
As soon as Reader starts to read Listener knocks on the table with his left hand at which point Reader pauses, repeats the last full sentence and then waits for a further knock on the table before recommencing. This continues throughout the entire reading and is reminiscent of "
Krapp’s earlier relishing in selected passages from his tapes." "At one point the Listener stops the Reader from turning back to an earlier page to which the text refers, and at another the Reader pauses at a seemingly ungrammatical structure in the text, says, ‘Yes’—his one ‘impromptu
remark—and re-reads it. Other than that one word he only vocalises exactly what is printed on the page.
Listener makes Reader repeat the last sentence of his tale and then the book is closed. "Nothing is left to tell"
[Beckett, S., ''Collected Shorter Plays of Samuel Beckett'' (London: Faber and Faber, 1984), p 288] and yet Listener insists on knocking one last time but there is nothing more to read. The two look at each other without blinking until the light fades.
The story
The
narrative
A narrative, story, or tale is any account of a series of related events or experiences, whether nonfictional (memoir, biography, news report, documentary, travel literature, travelogue, etc.) or fictional (fairy tale, fable, legend, thriller (ge ...
, written in the
past tense
The past tense is a grammatical tense whose function is to place an action or situation in the past. Examples of verbs in the past tense include the English verbs ''sang'', ''went'' and ''washed''. Most languages have a past tense, with some hav ...
, tells a story of someone, possibly Listener himself, who in a “last attempt to obtain relief”
following the loss of a loved one, moves away to the
Isle of Swans, a place where they never had been together. In doing this he completely disregards their warning, when they appeared to him in a dream: “Stay where we were so long alone together, my shade will comfort you.”
[Beckett, S., ''Collected Shorter Plays of Samuel Beckett'' (London: Faber and Faber, 1984), p 286]
He soon realises that he has made “a terrible mistake. Familiar surroundings could have soothed and ‘sedated’ him through their long association with his loved one, but unfamiliar surroundings accentuate his total sense of deprivation. In his
bereaved state, everything conspires to remind him of what he has lost.” For whatever reason he is unable to go back, to undo what he had done. He is plagued by
night terror
Night terror, also called sleep terror, is a sleep disorder causing feelings of panic or dread and typically occurring during the first hours of stage 3–4 non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep and lasting for 1 to 10 minutes. It can last long ...
s, something he had suffered from in the past, so far back in fact it was “as if
hey had
Hey or Hey! may refer to:
Music
* Hey (band), a Polish rock band
Albums
* ''Hey'' (Andreas Bourani album) or the title song (see below), 2014
* ''Hey!'' (Julio Iglesias album) or the title song, 1980
* ''Hey!'' (Jullie album) or the title s ...
never been.”
As a result, he finds he can’t sleep.
One night, however (which could just as easily have been "
Once upon a time
"Once upon a time" is a stock phrase used to introduce a narrative of past events, typically in fairy tales and folk tales. It has been used in some form since at least 1380 (according to the ''Oxford English Dictionary'') in storytelling in the ...
"), as he is sitting with his head in his hands and trembling all over, a man appears from nowhere. He explains that he has been sent by the man’s loved one to bring him comfort, at which point he pulls “a worn volume from the pocket of his long black coat and
eads from ittill dawn”,
after which he vanishes without another word. We learn that it is a “sad tale”,
[Beckett, S., ''Collected Shorter Plays of Samuel Beckett'' (London: Faber and Faber, 1984), p 287] but no more. This continues night after night: the man appears “unheralded” and “without preamble” begins to read, and disappears at dawn “without a word”.
Eventually the “loved one” determines that this has gone on long enough, so, after completing his reading one last time, the man remains and explains that this will be his final appearance. He has been told that his comforting is no longer needed and he is no longer empowered to return even if he wanted to. For a time the two, who through the many nights of readings had grown “to be as one”,
sit on in silence buried in “profounds of mind … as though turned to stone”.
David Warrilow recalls Beckett’s advice to him when he undertook the role: “Now, the most useful intention that Beckett gave me early on in the ''Ohio Impromptu'' experience was to treat it like a
bedtime story
A bedtime story is a traditional form of storytelling, where a story is told to a child at bedtime to prepare the child for sleep. The bedtime story has long been considered "a definite institution in many families".Dickson, Marguerite Stockma ...
and let it be soothing.”
Biographical insights
“Beckett served for a time as
Joyce’s amanuensis
An amanuensis () is a person employed to write or type what another dictates or to copy what has been written by another, and also refers to a person who signs a document on behalf of another under the latter's authority. In one example Eric Fenby ...
… the two men used to walk together on the Isle of Swans during the thirties and … Joyce used to wear a Latin Quarter hat.” Beckett confirmed these details with reference to the piece during a dinner conversation with James Knowlson. “Of course,”
[Knowlson, J., ''Damned to Fame: The Life of Samuel Beckett'' (London: Bloomsbury, 1996), p 665] he said. Knowlson then mentioned that he had heard people refer to the “dear face”
“as if it too were the face of Joyce”.
Knowlson believed it was actually a woman and Beckett concurred: “It’s
Suzanne … I’ve imagined her dead so many times. I’ve even imagined myself trudging out to her grave.” “When he wrote ''Ohio Impromptu''
is wife
In linguistics, a copula (plural: copulas or copulae; abbreviated ) is a word or phrase that links the subject of a sentence to a subject complement, such as the word ''is'' in the sentence "The sky is blue" or the phrase ''was not being'' i ...
was eighty years old
nd although for some time they lived quite separate lives theyhad nonetheless remained a couple for over forty years”
and “the thought of Suzanne dying was intolerable to him.”
The character in the story is plagued by night terrors and
insomnia
Insomnia, also known as sleeplessness, is a sleep disorder in which people have trouble sleeping. They may have difficulty falling asleep, or staying asleep as long as desired. Insomnia is typically followed by daytime sleepiness, low energy, ...
, as was Beckett. All his life he was troubled by
nightmare
A nightmare, also known as a bad dream, Retrieved 11 July 2016. is an unpleasant dream that can cause a strong emotional response from the mind, typically fear but also despair, anxiety or great sadness. The dream may contain situations of d ...
s. “His insomnia was probably inherited, from his mother, who suffered from the same … complaint. In the 1930s Beckett also began to experience
panic attack
Panic attacks are sudden periods of intense fear and discomfort that may include palpitations, sweating, chest pain or chest discomfort, shortness of breath, trembling, dizziness, numbness, confusion, or a feeling of impending doom or of losing ...
s. “Chief among these was a feeling of
suffocation
Asphyxia or asphyxiation is a condition of deficient supply of oxygen to the body which arises from abnormal breathing. Asphyxia causes generalized hypoxia, which affects primarily the tissues and organs. There are many circumstances that can i ...
, which often came on him in his room as night was falling.
The title of the play deserves some comment: ''Ohio Impromptu'' is a “straightforwardly descriptive
itle marking occasion and
genre
Genre () is any form or type of communication in any mode (written, spoken, digital, artistic, etc.) with socially-agreed-upon conventions developed over time. In popular usage, it normally describes a category of literature, music, or other for ...
–
impromptu
An impromptu (, , loosely meaning "offhand") is a free-form musical composition with the character of an ''ex tempore'' improvisation as if prompted by the spirit of the moment, usually for a solo instrument, such as piano. According to ''Allgeme ...
s à la
Molière
Jean-Baptiste Poquelin (, ; 15 January 1622 (baptised) – 17 February 1673), known by his stage name Molière (, , ), was a French playwright, actor, and poet, widely regarded as one of the greatest writers in the French language and world ...
and
Giraudoux
Hippolyte Jean Giraudoux (; 29 October 1882 – 31 January 1944) was a French novelist, essayist, diplomat and playwright. He is considered among the most important French dramatists of the period between World War I and World War II.
His wo ...
(which were metatheatrical or self-reflexive exercises) – or more like the intricate little solo pieces
Schubert
Franz Peter Schubert (; 31 January 179719 November 1828) was an Austrian composer of the late Classical and early Romantic eras. Despite his short lifetime, Schubert left behind a vast ''oeuvre'', including more than 600 secular vocal wor ...
,
Chopin and
Schumann
Robert Schumann (; 8 June 181029 July 1856) was a German composer, pianist, and influential music critic. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest composers of the Romantic era. Schumann left the study of law, intending to pursue a career a ...
called impromptus. “In promising an impromptu – a performance without preparation – the title of the play subverts its own promise when followed by a text which allows no extemporaneous composition, no
improvisation
Improvisation is the activity of making or doing something not planned beforehand, using whatever can be found. Improvisation in the performing arts is a very spontaneous performance without specific or scripted preparation. The skills of impr ...
on the part of the actors.
"‘Ohio’ is
lsothe answer of an American children's
riddle
A riddle is a statement, question or phrase having a double or veiled meaning, put forth as a puzzle to be solved. Riddles are of two types: ''enigmas'', which are problems generally expressed in metaphorical or allegorical language that requir ...
which goes "What is high in the middle and round at the ends?" or "What is high in the middle and nothing at the ends?" ... This gives the central theme of Beckett's play: two voids or 'nothings' - birth and death - and between the high of life."
Interpretation
Critics differ in their interpretations of who or what Reader is. Whether an apparition, Listener’s
alter ego
An alter ego (Latin for "other I", " doppelgänger") means an alternate self, which is believed to be distinct from a person's normal or true original personality. Finding one's alter ego will require finding one's other self, one with a differen ...
or an alternate aspect of his mind the nightly 'reading' is clearly an essential part of Listener’s healing process. Beckett theatre specialist Anna McMullan claims that "
both ''
Rockaby
''Rockaby'' is a short one-woman play by Samuel Beckett. It was written in English in 1980, at the request of Daniel Labeille, who produced it on behalf of ''Programs in the Arts'', State University of New York, for a festival and symposium in ...
'' and ''Ohio Impromptu'' the speaking of the text becomes a
rite of passage
A rite of passage is a ceremony or ritual of the passage which occurs when an individual leaves one group to enter another. It involves a significant change of status in society. In cultural anthropology the term is the Anglicisation of ''rite ...
which enacts a transformation – from loss to comfort, from life to death and from speech to silence." In ''Rockaby'', the woman has stayed on in the family home after her mother’s death; Listener has elected to run away.
"As with ''
Company
A company, abbreviated as co., is a Legal personality, legal entity representing an association of people, whether Natural person, natural, Legal person, legal or a mixture of both, with a specific objective. Company members share a common p ...
'', the author again returns to a theme he has portrayed many times, that loneliness and nostalgia are too personal, after a certain age, to be shared with any being other than oneself."
"The image of the river (the
Seine
)
, mouth_location = Le Havre/Honfleur
, mouth_coordinates =
, mouth_elevation =
, progression =
, river_system = Seine basin
, basin_size =
, tributaries_left = Yonne, Loing, Eure, Risle
, tributarie ...
) with its two arms flowing into one another after they have divided to flow around the island… is a clue to the meaning of the play. For at its emotional centre lies sadness, loss and solitude, contrasted with a memory of togetherness."
So why does Listener move ''to'' the Isle of Swans rather than away? The location may have had a certain meaning for Beckett-the-person but Beckett-the-writer chose it more for its geographical features, the two rivers merging into one and also the fact that a smaller version of the
Statue of Liberty
The Statue of Liberty (''Liberty Enlightening the World''; French: ''La Liberté éclairant le monde'') is a List of colossal sculpture in situ, colossal neoclassical sculpture on Liberty Island in New York Harbor in New York City, in the U ...
stands on the isle representing the literal
New World
The term ''New World'' is often used to mean the majority of Earth's Western Hemisphere, specifically the Americas."America." ''The Oxford Companion to the English Language'' (). McArthur, Tom, ed., 1992. New York: Oxford University Press, p. 3 ...
that Ohio is part of and the metaphorical new world that Listener moves to.
The arrangement of figures actually "resembles the figures used in the psychological experiments early
n the 20thcentury to establish the principle of
closure." The divided self is a common means of approach to Beckettian texts and has been applied to ''Krapp’s Last Tape'', ''
Footfalls
''Footfalls'' is a 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 ...
'', ''
That Time
''For the song "That Time" by Regina Spektor see Begin to Hope''
''That Time'' is a one-act play by Samuel Beckett, written in English between 8 June 1974 and August 1975. The play was specially written for actor Patrick Magee, who delivered it ...
'' and even ''
Waiting for Godot''.
Beckett may have had his own wife in mind when he wrote the play but he goes to some pains never to specify the name or gender of the loved one. This gives the text extra depth. The man could be grieving for a father or, more likely bearing in mind Beckett’s other works, his mother. Also there is nothing to prevent the loved one being a male partner and
homoerotic
Homoeroticism is sexual attraction between members of the same sex, either male–male or female–female. The concept differs from the concept of homosexuality: it refers specifically to the desire itself, which can be temporary, whereas "homose ...
readings of Beckett’s work are not uncommon.
As regards Reader, Gontarski himself has argued that what we are seeing is effectively a dramatisation of "the elemental creative process... suggested in ''That Time'', where the protagonist of narrative A would hide as a youth, 'making up talk breaking up two or more talking to himself being together that way'."
Others suggest that Reader is the "
shade", some kind of spectral emissary, despatched by Listener’s dead lover to help him through the grieving process. In an early draft of the play Beckett had focussed "on a ghost returning from the
Underworld
The underworld, also known as the netherworld or hell, is the supernatural world of the dead in various religious traditions and myths, located below the world of the living. Chthonic is the technical adjective for things of the underworld.
...
to speak at... a
conference
A conference is a meeting of two or more experts to discuss and exchange opinions or new information about a particular topic.
Conferences can be used as a form of group decision-making, although discussion, not always decisions, are the main p ...
"; the only vestige of that remaining is the
pun
A pun, also known as paronomasia, is a form of word play that exploits multiple meanings of a term, or of similar-sounding words, for an intended humorous or rhetorical effect. These ambiguities can arise from the intentional use of homophonic ...
on "White nights"
-
Whitenights,
Reading
Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of Letter (alphabet), letters, symbols, etc., especially by Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch.
For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process invo ...
is where a great many of his manuscripts are now preserved and the address of th
Beckett International Foundation
"The narrative echoes (but does not replicate or anticipate) the stag(ed) image."
[Ackerley, C. J. and Gontarski, S. E., (Eds.) ''The Faber Companion to Samuel Beckett'', (London: Faber and Faber, 2006), p 418] "In the text we are told that the figures remain: 'Buried in who knows what profounds of mind'. On stage, however, they raise their heads to meet each other’s eyes in meaningful contemplation." It is therefore equally plausible that the two men on stage are not the same as the two men in the story. "Like an author, Listener occasionally calls for the repeat of a phrase, but Reader has his own agency, repeating a phrase unbidden at least once."
One factor that suggests this might ''not'' be the case is the fact that there is only one hat between the two of them.
After the story has been read and the book closed Listener knocks once more, the signal to begin again from where Reader had left off. "What do words say when there is nothing left to tell" however? Beckett was obsessed by a desire to create what he called a "literature of the unword", and the play represents another example of this effort.
''Beckett on film''
In
Charles Sturridge
Charles B. G. Sturridge (born 24 June 1951) is an English director and screenwriter. He is the recipient of a BAFTA Children's Award and four BAFTA TV Awards. He has also been nominated for three Primetime Emmy Awards.
Early life and educatio ...
's 2002 film adaptation of ''Ohio Impromptu'' 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, modern
cinematic techniques
This article contains a list of cinematic techniques that are divided into categories and briefly described.
Basic definitions of terms
;180-degree rule
:A continuity editorial technique in which sequential shots of two or more actors within ...
allowed Reader and Listener to both be played by the same actor (
Jeremy Irons
Jeremy John Irons (; born 19 September 1948) is an English actor and activist. After receiving classical training at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, Irons began his acting career on stage in 1969 and has appeared in many West End theatre ...
), literally fulfilling Beckett's instruction that the two characters should be "as alike in appearance as possible" and following the interpretation that they are really elements in the one personality. In the text, the pair only look directly at each other at the very end. In this production, however, they
communicate visually throughout.
Anna McMullan criticized this filmic interpretation of ''Ohio Impromptu'' as being "led once again by a psychologized approach to performance
ince Ince may refer to:
*Ince, Cheshire, a village in Cheshire, UK
*Ince-in-Makerfield in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan, UK
*Ince (UK Parliament constituency), a former constituency covering Ince-in-Makerfield
*Ince (ward), an electoral ward covering ...
Jeremy Irons
Jeremy John Irons (; born 19 September 1948) is an English actor and activist. After receiving classical training at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, Irons began his acting career on stage in 1969 and has appeared in many West End theatre ...
plays both parts and the ‘ghost’ fades away at dawn".
[McMullan, A., ''Studies in the Theatre: Samuel Beckett Issue''. ASSAPH 17-18 (Tel Aviv: Assaph Publishers, 2003), p 231]
Notes
Online references
Beckett's dying remains: The Process of Playwriting in the Ohio Impromptu Manuscripts{{Beckett
Theatre of the Absurd
1980 plays
Plays by Samuel Beckett