Breath and the tradition of 1960's new realism: Between theatre and art

While Beckett's minimalism seems to draw his theatre further into its centre of gravity, it also pushes it in a counter move to its medial boundaries. This article examines Beckett's most compact piece, Breath (1969), in the context of the major changes in the art world of the 1960s - particularly, the emergence of "new realist" sensibility in France - and suggests its consideration as a manifestation of "new theatre," which blurs the line between theatre and the plastic arts.