Krapp's Last Tape letter to Rosset's editorial assistant, Judith Schmidt, on 11 May 1959, Beckett referred to the "staging" of "Krapp's Last Tape" as its 'creation'," and he made numerous significant changes to the text over the years as he was involved in directing the play. The first German performance, on 28 September 1959, was directed by Walter Henn at Berlin's "Schillertheater", where 10 years later, on 5 October 1969, Samuel Beckett himself staged his text in a most successful performance (with Martin Held as Krapp). The first American performance, on 14 January 1960, was directed by Alan Schneider and starred Donald Davis.
Rough for Theatre II in the ending, leaving it open to various interpretations such as Croker may be crying (justifying the handkerchief), smiling, was dead prior to A and B’s arrival or else died during the process. Despite working up the text for publication in the seventies, "Rough for Theatre II" clearly looks back to "Waiting for Godot" and "Endgame" rather than forward to the later plays. Had Beckett actually written the play later it would have borne a greater resemblance to "That Time", "Eh Joe" or "Ghost Trio", Morvan and Bertrand’s characters being reduced to disembodied voices. In these three plays, the central