Beyond Minimalism

This critical study of Samuel Beckett's plays analyzes the use of disjointed body imagery, masks, abstract monologue and experimentations in film and video. The text argues that Beckett has been responsible for a truly avant-garde departure from our concepts of the "theatrical". Beckett's later dramatic works defy generic classification as pure theatre, poetry, or prose. Instead, Brater argues, they forge a new aesthetic for themselves. Analysing Beckett's use of disjointed body imagery; mask; abstract monologue; and the experimentation in film and video in the 1980s, Brater demonstrates Beckett's truly avant-garde departure from our concepts of the `theatrical'.