Editing Play (play) (section)

====''Beckett on Film'' (2000)====

Another [[film]]ed version of ''Play'' was directed by [[Anthony Minghella]] for the ''[[Beckett on Film]]'' project, starring [[Alan Rickman]], [[Kristin Scott Thomas]] and [[Juliet Stevenson]].

For this particular interpretation of the play, it is assumed that the action takes place in Hell, perhaps in reference to [[Jean-Paul Sartre]]'s famous assertion, 'Hell is—other people'<ref>Sartre, Jean-Paul, ''No Exit and Three Other Plays'' (New York: Vintage International, 1976), p 45</ref> though [[T. S. Eliot]]’s rebuttal, “Hell is oneself,”<ref>Bowne, E. M., ''The Making of T. S. Eliot’s Plays'' (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1970), p 233</ref> is probably more accurate. In this filmed version, the action is set in a vast landscape of "urn people", all speaking at once. “This [interpretation] was much turned over, along with doubts whether it should be there at all, in animated discussions that went on throughout the [[Barbican Arts Centre|Barbican]] meeting places.”<ref>Worth, K., ‘Sources of Attraction to Beckett’s Theater’ in Oppenheim, L., (Ed.) ''Palgrave Advances in Samuel Beckett Studies'' (London: Palgrave, 2004), pp 221,222</ref>

A camera is used instead of a stage light to provoke the characters into action; Minghella uses a [[jump cut]] editing technique to make it seem as though there are even more than two repetitions of the text. He “made the equipment into a threatening force by switching it with bullying speed from one face to another, forcing unusual speed of delivery for the actors. Juliet Stevenson told [ [[Katharine Worth]] ] that during rehearsals she had wondered whether the lines were being delivered too fast for viewers to take in their sense [but] theatre critic, Alice Griffin ... thought that the lines ‘came across more clearly and more easily understandable than sometimes in the theatre.’ This she attributed partly to Minghella's use of [[close-up]], a recurring feature of the film versions naturally enough.”<ref>Worth, K., ‘Sources of Attraction to Beckett’s Theater’ in Oppenheim, L., (Ed.) ''Palgrave Advances in Samuel Beckett Studies'' (London: Palgrave, 2004), p 221</ref>

The [[postmodern]] outlook of the film ("a field of urns in a dismal [[swamp]], a gnarled, blasted oak in the background, a lowering, [[Chernobyl disaster|Chernobyl]] sky") was however criticized by ''[[The Guardian]]'''s [[Art critic]] [[Adrian Searle]] as "[[Adolescence|adolescent]], and worse, [[cliché]]d and illustrational," adding: "Any minute, expect a [[dragon]]". It is also perhaps noteworthy that this version does not feature the last section of the script, in which the characters almost embark upon a third cycle of the text.

See also:
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20200201044827/https://beckettonfilm.com/ ''Beckett on Film''] Official site
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20130402064100/http://www.beckettonfilm.com/plays/play/synopsis.html ''Play''] at ''Beckett on Film'', Official site