The complete script, including stage directions, of Samuel Beckett’s play Breath:

–Curtain.

–1. Faint light on stage littered with miscellaneous rubbish. Hold about five seconds.

–2. Faint brief cry and immediately inspiration and slow increase of light together reaching maximum together in about 10 seconds. Silence and hold for about five seconds.

–3. Expiration and slow decrease of light together reaching minimum together (light as in 1) in about 10 seconds and immediately cry as before. Silence and hold about five seconds.

–Curtain.

[Derb] That’s it. If I recall correctly, another of Beckett’s plays, Happy Days, has the shortest speaking part of any dramatic work. Willie, the hero, says only one word: “It.”

Ah, Beckett. I nursed a fascination with him all through my twenties. “We give birth astride a grave.” Yes, we do, but it’s one of those things best not thought about too much. When you feel like thinking about it, though, Sam’s your man.