ABSTRACT
The extract which is the opening of Samuel Beckett’s play provides a minimum amount of contextual information. Much of the extract reads like the beginning of a conventional play with the implication that all will be revealed as the drama unfolds. For the drama teacher engaged in devising drama with classes, the key questions are how much and what kind of contextual detail is necessary in the construction of drama. K. Elam has contrasted the post-Romantic ‘psychologistic’ view of character with one which sees character as being more a function of dramatic structure and action. However, once the idea is grasped, the exercise, as well as being an interesting ‘way into’ Beckett’s play, also highlights the degree to which context can be minimised and structures highlighted. Context, then, can be minimised to an extreme degree, as in the case of the exercises which sought to represent ‘waiting’ and which could, if developed, lead to absurd drama.
