Last Updated on May 12, 2026
Beckett’s Poetics of Despair
3.5 out of 5.0 stars
Gary Oldman revisiting his old stomping ground at the Royal Court to perform Samuel Beckett’s Krapp’s Last Tape, a monologue for actor and reel-to-reel tape machine, is the hot ticket du jour. This production was born at the York Theatre Royal as a thank-you from the actor to the space where he began his professional career, and tonight debuted in its original home, the Royal Court, where Oldman spent his formative years.
The one-act play, created for Irish actor Patrick Magee, was written in 1958 and comes after Waiting for Godot and Endgame in Beckett’s canon. The protagonist, Krapp, a 69-year-old semi-derelict, is listening back on his birthday to a recording of himself aged thirty-nine, when he believed himself to be at his peak. Oldman, at 68, is the perfect age for the part and follows in the footsteps of John Hurt and Michael Gambon, even using the same prop tape machine as the two other theatrical giants. Like a modern-day Alec Guinness, Oldman has the capacity to disappear into his roles. He won the Best Actor Oscar in 2018 for his take on Winston Churchill in Darkest Hour, delivered a visceral Sid Vicious in Sid and Nancy in 1986, stood in Guinness’ shoes as George Smiley in 2011’s Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, and was hilarious in 2020 as alcoholic screenwriter Herman Mankiewicz in the underrated Mank, one of my favourite movies. This is just scratching the surface of his output, which shows a dazzling range and a capacity to create complex characterisations seemingly without breaking sweat.
Since 2022, Oldman has also been the star of Slow Horses, the Apple TV series about a rogue group of MI5 agents run by Oldman’s character Jackson Lamb. Lamb drinks, farts and wheezes his way through his team’s operations, either pulling them out of trouble or burying them with alarming regularity. This production of Krapp’s Last Tape is both directed and designed by Oldman and seems to take inspiration from the Slow Horses character. The set is a hoarder’s oppressive cacophony of boxes, junk and books and could easily be Lamb’s apartment. Krapp is played as Lamb, now retired and looking back on his life. For an audience that knows the TV show, this is familiar territory, and Oldman gives us a masterclass in the textures of decay. But without the driver of plot or the majestic poetry of Godot to hold our attention, it creates a somewhat listless experience.
In typical Beckettian style, not much happens in Krapp’s Last Tape. Fragments of memories and solipsistic meanderings create a tapestry of despair. Krapp shambles onto the stage, clearly in pain and struggling with his mobility. He salaciously eats a couple of bananas, takes a few swigs of booze and then listens to the tape, replaying certain passages as he critiques his past behaviours, acknowledges his failures and bemoans his present condition. The great book had been written and published, but is unread and unappreciated, relationships have been abandoned, and his greatest pleasure in life now is to play sonic games with the word “spool.” Where Hurt spat out the words as if his lot could be altered by strong diction, Oldman’s articulation is more fragile; he is a character beaten down with only his regrets for comfort and company. It is a stark reminder of the absurd nature of the human experience and the cruelties of ageing. Krapp’s Last Tape now feels like a period piece, disconnected from contemporary experience in today’s digitally mediated society, in which we broadcast every mindless thought. If this play is Oldman’s valedictory theatrical lap of honour, then it’s a sotto voce finale.
The show opened with Godot’s To-Do List, a sparky new piece written by 19-year-old Leo Simpe-Asante, winner of the 2025 inaugural Royal Court Young Playwrights Award. It provides an oblique answer to the question where did Godot get to? Actor Shakeel Haakim is a beatific bundle of neuroses, tapping his hands and twiddling his thumbs. He is trapped in an endless vortex of despair in which an off-stage voice gives him constant commands from a “To-Do” list. Some of these are funny. ”Make sure you don’t have ants in your pants”, and some more disturbing, “Have an existential crisis”. The writing is energetic with enough comic vitality to lift this appealing premise into something dynamic and entertaining. Simpe-Asante is one to watch.
Krapp’s Last Tape is running from the 11th to the 30th of May
Royal Court Theatre, Sloane Square, London SW1W 8AS
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