Gary Oldman (now Sir Gary Oldman) in Krapp’s Last Tape at York Theatre Royal this spring. Picture: Gisele Schmidt
SIR Gary Oldman is to revive his York Theatre Royal production of Samuel Beckett’s Krapp’s Last Tape as part of Royal Court Theatre’s 70th anniversary season in London.
Beckett’s melancholic monodrama received its British premiere as the aperitif in a double bill with the Irish playwright’s Endgame at the Royal Court, and today’s announcement falls on the 67th anniversary of the opening night on October 28 1958.
Krapp’s Last Tape will run at the London theatre from May 8 to 30 2026, following its sold-out run in York from April 14 to May 17 this spring, when Academy Award, BAFTA, SAG, BIFA and Golden Globe winner Gary Oldman made his return to the York Theatre Royal stage after a 45-year hiatus.
Knighted by Prince William at Windsor Castle in September 2025 for his services to drama, Sir Gary, 67, made his professional debut in the repertory ranks at York Theatre Royal in 1979 after winning a scholarship to Rose Bruford College of Speech and Drama, from where he graduated with a BA in acting that year.
That first season took in She Stoops To Conquer, Thark, Privates On Parade and Romeo And Juliet, topped off by playing the Cat in furry suit, mittens and nylon whiskers in Berwick Kaler’s third York pantomime, Dick Whittington And His Wonderful Cat, that Christmas.
This spring, at the height of the popularity of his Apple TV+ role as unkempt, flatulent, rude, caustic Jackson Lamb in misfit spy thriller Slow Horses, Sir Gary headed north to show support for regional theatre, directing himself in the 50-minute Krapp’s Last Tape in his first theatre appearance in 38 years, back in York for his “completion of a cycle”.
Gary Oldman (now Sir Gary Oldman) and York Theatre Royal chief executive officer Paul Crewes surveying the Theatre Royal auditorium. Picture: Gisele Schmidt
“After all, it is the where it all began,” he said in his programme note. “York, in a very real sense, for me, is coming home. I met with YTR’s chief executive, Paul Crewes, and the play, the how, and the when , were mapped out.”
Welcoming the transfer to London, York Theatre Royal chief executive Paul Crewe says: “Working with Gary on our production of Krapp’s Last Tape was remarkable and we are delighted that even more people will get the opportunity to see his extraordinary performance in this landmark play. It was first performed at the Royal Court 67 years ago and it’s so wonderfully fitting that it makes a return as part of their 70th anniversary celebrations.”
Krapp’s Last Tape will be performed by Sir Gary in the Royal Court’s Jerwood Theatre Downstairs, preceded every night by Godot’s To-Do List, a new Beckett-inspired short play by Jerwood New Playwright Leo Simpe-Asante, directed by Aneesha Srinivasan.
Winner of the 2025 inaugural Royal Court Young Playwrights Award, this curtain-raising comedy follows seven decades on from Krapp’s Last Tape’s own debut as a curtain-raiser on the Royal Court’s stage.
Quick refresher course, Krapp’s Last Tape is the one where Oldman’s disenchanted Krapp coughs and chomps his way through three bananas on his 69th birthday, as he sits alone in his cluttered attic and listens to the echoes of his younger self, spinning the spools of his reel-to-reel recorder before recording his latest birthday reflection.
“Perhaps my best years are gone,” bemoans Krapp. “When there was a chance of happiness. But I wouldn’t want them back. Not with the fire in me now.”
Meanwhile, Sir Gary can be seen in the on-going fifth series of Slow Horses, being released – frustratingly! – in weekly episodes on Apple TV+ from September 24.