About the work
One-act play by Samuel Beckett, written in English in 1980 for a symposium at the State University of New York at Buffalo marking Beckett's 75th birthday, and first performed there on 8 April 1981, directed by Alan Schneider with Billie Whitelaw in the leading role.
Plot
An old woman sits in a rocking chair inherited from her dead mother. A taped voice – her own – recounts, in a monotone rhythm, a life spent waiting at the window for "another like herself." Four times she demands, in a single clipped word, that the story continue, before falling silent and still at the end.
Cultural significance
The title alludes to the English lullaby "Rock-a-bye Baby," whose ominous undertone – the cradle falling from the tree with the child in it – underlies Beckett's image of rocking between life and death. Whitelaw received an Obie Award for her performance; D. A. Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus documented the London rehearsals and the Buffalo premiere on film.