Beckett the Spiritist: Breath and its Media Drama

Most of the critical attention devoted to Breathhas been focused on its adaptations and the affinities between its theatrical realization and the visual arts. Tracing Beckett’s ambivalent attitude towards the staging of the play, this articleoffers a closer analysis of Breathas a textual artefact. It discussesvarious published and unpublished versions of the script and their relation to the sketch’s infamous ‘appropriation’in its first production as part of the revue Oh! Calcutta!, in an attempt to reconstruct three episodes of a media drama that unfolds in and around the play.