Act Without Words II

Two sacks and a neat pile of clothes sit on a low, "violently lit"[4] platform at the back of a stage.

A long pole (described in the text as a "goad") enters from the right, prods the sack containing A to awaken him to his daily routine, and then exits.

The clothes he – presumably – folded neatly before are now scattered about (clear evidence of the existence of a third party) but he never reacts to this and simply goes about his business.

He takes greater care of himself (brushing his teeth and exercising), is better organised (he checks his watch – eleven times in total – and consults a map and compass before setting off to move the sacks), but still his shift is no more meaningful.

The initial reviews ranged "from puzzled to disapproving"[6] and the play fared little better in America but for all that Beckett wrote to Thomas MacGreevy:[7] "I have never had such good notices."

Alan Schneider believed the problem was that "[c]ritics can't seem to comment on what's before them without dragging in the older [plays] and rationalising their previous reactions.

"[8] In 2000, Patrice Parks wrote in Monterey County Weekly that Act Without Words II “has lost not an iota of relevance to today''s mind-numbing workaday grind.

"[10] The two men work together to remove themselves from whatever external or elemental (see "Mana"[11]) force may be behind the goad; it counters by adding wheels.

"[N]either A or B appears to realise that each one of them carries the other on his back [or that there even is an other] ... they take their burden for granted"[5] as does Molloy, to cite a single example, who never questions how he has wound up in his mother's room being paid for writing stuff that only gets returned the next week covered in proofreading markings.

Being born to enact and endure [an] eternal cycle of arousal-activity-rest, without any meaningful progress being achieved, is the sin that afflicts A-B.

"[16] In 1965 Paul Joyce made a poignant film of the play titled The Goad featuring Freddie Jones and Geoffrey Hinsliff.