This was the first of two Krapps that Janie and I had in the early part of the century, as it were. The second was Harold Pinter’s Krapp at The Royal Court, which I shall Ogblog in the fullness of time.
I really liked this one, John Hurt’s, while marginally preferring the Pinter. Janie only got on with Harold’s Krapp.
This one included the mime show intro, whereas Harold’s didn’t. I expect it was the mime show and banana business that put Janie off a bit.
I had long rated John Hurt as an actor and felt he did justice to this difficult part…and that it did justice to him.
Here is a link to the Theatricalia entry for this production.
The critics got very excited at the idea of John Hurt bringing his acclaimed Gate Theatre Dublin performance of Krapp to London. Here’s Maureen Paton in The Telegraph a couple of weeks before the show landed in London:
Paton Krapp Telegraph 13 Jan 2000, Thu The Daily Telegraph (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com
Actually, we got wind of this production late and ended up booking seats for the very last night of the run, in order to score decent ones. Janie’s diary note reads “Row C – four rows back”.
Here is Patrick Marmion’s review from The Standard:
Krapp Marmion Standard 28 Jan 2000, Fri Evening Standard (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com
Charles Spencer waxed lyrical about both play and production in the Telegraph:
Krapp Spencer Telegraph 31 Jan 2000, Mon The Daily Telegraph (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com