Quad (play)

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Quad is a short dramatic work by Samuel Beckett, described as "a piece for four players, light, and percussion." It was first transmitted by the Süddeutscher Rundfunk in German in 1982. In December 1982, it was transmitted by BBC Two, and it was published by Faber and Faber, London, in 1984.

The piece consists of four cowled players who walk in fixed patterns along the sides and diagonals of an imaginary square, six paces by six paces long. It begins with only one player, and every time a "circuit" of the square is completed, another player joins him. Once all four players are onstage, a player leaves every time a circuit is completed. The comings and goings of the players are arranged so that every player appears alone onstage once, and every combination of two and three players is realised as well.

The text of the play provides instructions for staging the piece, as well as notes on problems Beckett encountered in writing it; for example, the players' paths frequently cross at the centre of the square, and the problem is posed of how to "avoid" ruptures in the rhythm of walking, or how to "best exploit" them if they cannot be avoided. Beckett's solution is to divert the paths of the players slightly. Another problem noted in the text is that Beckett overestimated the time it would take to stage by approximately ten minutes.

The Plays of Samuel Beckett

Stage Plays: Act Without Words I, Act Without Words II, Breath, Catastrophe, Come and Go, Eleutheria (posthumous), Endgame, Footfalls, Happy Days, Krapp's Last Tape, Not I, Ohio Impromptu, A Piece of Monologue, Play, Rockaby, Rough for Theatre I, Rough for Theatre II, That Time, Waiting for Godot, What Where Radio Plays: All That Fall, Cascando, Embers, The Old Tune, Rough for Radio I, Rough for Radio II, Words and Music Television Plays: ...but the clouds..., Eh Joe, Ghost Trio, Nacht und Träume, Quad Screenplays: Film