“With all this darkness round me I feel less alone. In a way. I love to get up and move about in it, then back here to . . . me.”

–  Samuel Beckett, “Krapp’s Last Tape”

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We saw Samuel Beckett’s “Krapp’s Last Tape” at the Gaiety Theatre in Dublin in late October.  The one-man, one-act, fifty-minute play starred Stephen Rea, well known for roles in films “The Crying Game” with Forest Whitaker, “Michael Collins” with Liam Neeson and scores of others on the stage and screen. Born in Belfast, Rea is also known for portraying the voice of Gerry Adams on news broadcasts from 1988-1994 when Sinn Fein was under a broadcasting ban and for his twenty-year marriage to Dolours Price, a member of the Provisional IRA. Rea’s method acting and expressive long face have made him a living legend.

“Krapp’s Last Tape” is an example of the Theatre of the Absurd, a movement influenced by existentialism.  The play is set in one room in which Krapp has a ritual of making and listening to recordings of himself every year. He reviews the “spools” (recordings) annually and Krapp is embarrassed by his former selves, marveling at his previous certainty, pomposity, and more than anything, his younger selves’ naivete. Sections of the dialogue include Krapp’s recorded voice of his younger selves.  A detail of this production is that Rea recorded his voice for these sections of the dialogue starting over thirty years ago so that if he ever got the chance to perform “Krapp’s Last Tape,” the recordings of his younger self would add authenticity.

I am not a Beckett aficionado and was ignorant of the play before going but the chance to see Stephen Rea in person was irresistible.  As I have recommended before in this space, if you are planning a trip to Ireland, it is worth researching what plays are on and taking a chance on one.  You might just see a masterpiece.

Elections in the US, and reaction in Ireland

In the days since we saw the play, the US presidential elections have taken place.  We submitted our MA ballots weeks before Nov. 5 by email. It felt important to add our small voices to this crucial election.  Like most people, we anticipated a close race with recounts and images of John King’s magic wall.  I harbored a hope that this time American people would finally reject the twice-impeached convicted felon, held liable for sexual assault and currently under indictment for numerous crimes including attempts to overturn the 2020 election.  To my eyes and ears, Kamala Harris easily bested Trump in the one debate after which he shied away from another, preferring to hold rallies in which Hannibal Lecter and Arnold Palmer were bizarre subjects of his meandering speeches. Blatant racism and anti- immigrant rhetoric were his central message.

I allowed myself to get caught up in the euphoria of what Harris’s elevation would mean to improving America’s image overseas, protecting the environment, rebuilding the middle class, supporting Ukraine, and even (after the election) bringing Netanyahu’s annihilation of the Palestinians to an end. The vote represented a once-in-a-generation chance to elect an intelligent, accomplished, thoughtful, and strong woman of color to the presidency.  The enthusiasm grew: Maybe the Democrats can carry North Carolina?  Or Iowa?  Or Florida?  Or flip Ted Cruz’s Senate seat?

Now, in the aftermath, I feel like Krapp (in at least two ways). Listening to tapes of his former self, Krapp is continually shocked by how naive he was when he was younger. I am astonished by my naive belief that it would be a close race and optimism that Kamala had a good chance.  By the wee hours, the result had been projected and it was not close.

The reaction to Trump’s convincing win has been a mixture of dread and bafflement in Ireland.  “How in the name of God could this have happened?”  “Isn’t that nutter just after being convicted of crimes?”  “How can a racist misogynist who had an insurrection on the capital of America be elected?”  As the American to whom these questions are posed, I am embarrassed to admit that I have no answers.

We had plausible explanations for the surprise 2016 outcome: Russian interference, Hillary won the popular vote but the antiquated electoral college system didn’t work. Those explanations ring false in 2024. It is uncomfortable to admit that I don’t know and, like Krapp, must acknowledge just how naive I was when I was younger, in this case a-week-ago younger.  The certainties I felt about America have been thrown into question.

Biden’s presidency was a relief – mostly – for Americans in Ireland.  He steadied the ship after the four years of Trump chaos that culminated with Jan. 6th.  Biden rebuilt the economy, got the country vaccinated, rallied the international community to support Ukraine, passed the largest climate change legislation ever in any country, and passed the CHIPS act.  All this legislation made Biden the most effective president since FDR. He also showered Ireland with praise and attention including an historic tour of Ireland during which the island north and south welcomed their favorite son.

I write “mostly” a relief because Biden’s unwavering support for Israel’s relentless and ruthless bombardment of Gaza, increased settlements attacks in the West Bank, and invasion of Lebanon has soured Ireland’s view of Joe.  In a normal year, America sends $3-5 billion in military aid to Israel.  This year it is $18 billion and counting. This policy has evoked unmitigated horror and outrage in Ireland.  As a country despoiled by repeated foreign invasion, dispossession, and annihilation, Ireland feels the Palestinians’ pain in a visceral and unambiguous way. Cromwell killed 41 percent of the population here.  Two hundred years later, the great famine dealt another hammer blow. They feel the anguish of the Palestinians in a way that most Americans, unless they are native Americans, simply do not and cannot feel.

On my trips to America over the last year, the subject of Palestine and Israel is generally avoided as a topic of conversation even with friends. When it does surface, the situation is described as “complicated.” It is not complicated to Irish eyes.  Bombing hospitals, schools, universities, refugee centers, civilian infrastructure, destroying entire towns, ordering civilians to evacuate one area to designated zones and then proceeding to bombard those very designated areas, preventing the distribution of food, water and medicine, attacking UNRWA workers and UNIFIL peacekeepers, and assassinating members of the press are all international crimes. The pro-Palestine protests are constant in Dublin and the reaction to American support of Netanyahu is disgust and dismay. The Genocide Joe placards at protests are an indicator that Biden would not receive a rapturous welcome if he were to arrive today.

General Election called in Ireland

The call led to an intense 3-week campaign.  Yes, you read that correctly: 3 weeks, a stark contrast to the never-ending campaign in the US.  By the time this article is published, California Gov. Gavin Newsom might already be campaigning for US president in 2028.

Immigration will play a central role in the campaign in Ireland as well. Ireland is not perfect; ask anyone in Ireland on a July day of pelting cold rain and they will tell you that. While the welcome has been on the mat for refugees from Ukraine, the reception of refugees from Iraq, Afghanistan, Yemen, Congo, Sudan, Syria, and Palestine has been less enthusiastic.  There is a small group on the far right that demonizes Black and Brown immigrants.  Arsonists in balaclavas have destroyed properties designated for housing refugees. They assert that Ireland is “full” and that “Ireland is for the Irish,” using the Irish tricolor as a symbol of intolerance.  In the main, Ireland has welcomed refugees to its shores with compassion, but racism does exist in the land of 100 thousand welcomes.  The impact of the “Ireland is full” crowd will not be broad- based support for a figure like Trump, Boris Johnson, Marine le Pen, or Viktor Orbán – the movement is too small for that – but the effect might be that working class communities suffering from underinvestment turn away from Sinn Fein. Polls have shown they are abandoning the party, chanting at protests that Sinn Fein are “traitors” for defending the rights and dignity of refugees. A weakened Sinn Fein might deliver more of the same for Ireland: Fianna Fail and Fine Gael (derisively dubbed FFG by the opposition), the two centrist parties that have traded power in Ireland for 100 years and for the last 4 years have governed (capably, it is generally thought) as a coalition with the Greens.

The surge in immigration to Ireland has also inspired bewilderment.  In townlands of rural Ireland, there have been cases in which the government delivered busloads of migrants in the dark of night.  The residents of one Roscommon townland of less than 100 residents awoke to discover that the one local hotel that had been shuttered during the pandemic had been designated for refugee housing and filled with over one hundred Syrian and Yemini men.

Weeks of protest began, and the reaction cannot be simply written off as racism.  One element of the reaction is: “Why would anyone want to come here?  It’s damp, there are no jobs, poor public transportation, and few educational opportunities.”  The residents feel that the Dublin government has ignored them for generations. Now, the only money invested in the townland is not for a new school, clinic, rail line, bypass road, or football pitch, but rather for a refugee center. “So, the money was always there, then?  Just not for us.”  Rural locations have been the source of emigrants not the destination for as long as anyone can remember, so there is surprise that anyone would want to relocate there. In the United States, the reaction to immigration is generally that the USA is so wonderful that everyone wants to move here.  In rural Ireland, the people have a humbler question ‘Why would anyone choose to come here?’

The effect of US elections on Irish politics is anyone’s guess.  Ireland is confused and concerned that Trump’s America First attitude may reduce the direct foreign investment that has propelled Ireland from a poor backwater into a vibrant, world-leading tech center. Will multinationals like Pfizer, Intel, Google, and Meta leave Ireland because of Trump’s policies? Will the Shamrock bowl visit from the Irish Taoiseach be canceled? Will Irish undocumented workers in the US be deported?  Will Ireland need to boost its military spending massively to protect its skies and seas, particularly the underwater cables that connect Europe to America?

Onward?

Ink will continue to be spilled over what happened to the USA on Nov. 5. Those far more qualified than I will study the campaign for the weeks, months, and years to come by celebrating, assigning blame, making excuses, looking on the bright side, lamenting the end of the world, and so on.

“Krapp’s Last Tape” is a fairly depressing play exploring the futility of life, but it does encourage the practice of evaluating our beliefs and positions on a regular basis to determine whether we are on the right track, to check whether what we know to be absolutely 100 percent true actually is.

“Just been listening to that stupid bastard I took myself for thirty years ago, hard to believe I was ever as bad as that. Thank God that’s all done with anyway” is a statement from “Krapp’s Last Tape.” I was certain that the decision to elect Trump in 2016 was an accident, but 2024 suggests that it was a deliberate choice. I wonder how I could have been so naive eight years ago, and just last week. How naive am I right now in ways that I can’t yet perceive?