„All the resurrected dead” in „the infinite emptiness” of Beckett and Kantor

Abstract

The article aims to draw some parallels between two great pioneers of the twentieth-century theatre practice: Samuel Beckett (1906–1989) and Tadeusz Kantor (1915–1990). Both artists are famous for revolutionary solutions and disturbing stage images overridden with a sense of loss and mourning. The Beckettian spirit will be detected in Kantor’s performance The Dead Class with a special emphasis on stage props that were attributed with great signifi cance in all his artistic ventures. It can be said that Kantor encapsulated the quintessence of particular productions in his stage objects and this study will detect Beckett’s thought as it is conveyed by, for example, school benches, mannequins, Machine of Oppression – the Mechanical Cradle, and a window