Not all of Krapp's actions take place at his table, we hear him pouring drinks and attempting to sing in the darkness surrounding his stage as a means of distracting himself from the task in hand; in "Quad", the players' only reality is within the lighted square as is the case with the women of "Come and Go" but in "... but the clouds ..." all the real action takes place in the darkness, the central circle of light is a place of transition only.