Night and Dreams (1983) [N/A]
Featuring:
Helfrid Foron
Written by:
Samuel Beckett
Heinrich Joseph von Collin
Directed by:
Alfred Behrens, Michael Kuball
Release Date:
May 19, 1983
Original Title:
Nacht und Träume
Production Countries:
Germany
Ratings / Certifications:
N/A
Runtime: 11
Nacht und Träume (Night and Dreams) is the last television play written and directed by Samuel Beckett and broadcast on 19th May 1983. It is a wordless play, the only sound that of a male voice humming, then singing, from the last seven bars of Schubert’s lied Nacht und Träume, words by Matthäus Casimir von Collin: "Holde Träume, kehret wieder!" ("Sweet dreams, come back"). Schubert was a composer much loved by Beckett – "the composer who spoke most to him…whom he considered a friend in suffering" (Wiki) Beckett lists five elements that make up the play: evening light, the dreamer (A), his dreamt self (B), a pair of dreamt hands and the last seven bars of Schubert’s lied.
A lone man sits at a table dreaming. He dreams of singing a few bars of Schubert's lied, "Nacht und Träume." Then unseen people give him a communion cup and wipe his brow. He is shown dreaming again, then the dream repeats, only much slower.
