Krapp's Last Tape Summary

Krapp’s Last Tape occurs on ‘‘a late evening in the future’’
in the title character’s den. Specifically, the play takes place on Krapp’s sixtyninth birthday. Every year since he was twentyfour, Krapp a would-be writer who has failed as such has recorded his impressions of the previous year and then catalogued the resulting tape’s number and contents in a ledger, which he keeps locked in his desk. The play depicts Krapp listening to a tape from thirty years ago (recorded when he was thirty-nine) and then recording this year’s tape.
When the play begins, Krapp is sitting at his desk, consulting his watch to confirm that the exact time of his birth is approaching this is when he will record this year’s impressions. There is a great amount of silent stage business, as Krapp fumbles with the keys to his desk drawers, removes a reel of tape, opens another drawer, removes a banana and eats it. Krapp leaves the stage (as he will do several times) to drink; the audience hears a ‘‘loud pop of cork’’ to confirm that Krapp is consuming some sort of alcoholic beverage.
Krapp returns to his desk and consults his ledger, looking for the number of the tape that contains the recording made on his thirty-ninth birthday. He reviews his notes on the tape (as found in the ledger), loads the... » Complete Krapp's Last Tape Summary