Expression and affect in Kleist, Beckett and Deleuze

Given that Beckett’s apparent desire for control over the performances of his plays during his lifetime, and the subsequent ongoing insistence of the Beckett Estate that his stage directions be closely adhered to, are well knows, I will, in this chapter, move away from what has become the standard debate – wherein the interest or intentions of the author are opposed to the creative freedom of producers, actors and directors – towards a different point of focus. This will involve an examination of the concepts of ‘expression’ and ‘affect’ which Deleuze develops through his reading of Spinoza and Leibniz on the one hand, and the work of the German Romantic dramatist Heinrich von Kleist on the other. I will then seek to compare these to Beckett’s statements regarding his own strong interest in the work of Kleist in order to develop an understanding of the external nature both of expression itself and of the affect in his work, and the implications of this for performance practice.