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.
Waiting for Godot Godeau has an identical-sounding name and is involved in a similar situation, it has been suggested he may have been instead influenced by The Lovable Cheat, a minor adaptation of "Mercadet" starring Buster Keaton, whose works Beckett had admired and who he later sought out for Film. Unlike elsewhere in Beckett's work, no bicycle appears in this play, but Hugh Kenner in his essay "The Cartesian Centaur" reports that Beckett once, when asked about the meaning of Godot, mentioned "a veteran racing cyclist, bald, a 'stayer', recurrent placeman in town-to-town and national championships, Christian name elusive, surname Godeau, pronounced, of