Beckett's Ape

About the Book

Beckett’s Ape is a masterfully crafted play on words that probes the absurdity of the human condition. It begins where Godot ends and reads like a novel whose dialogue mimes our humdrum lives. It mirrors our fears, echoes our need for meaning, and points us toward hope in a surprising way. Two misfits – named Plankton and Eelectron – are painting a curb and stoplight on the corner of Life and Death. Plankton is a pushy control freak in charge of “thinking” who orders his sensitive friend around. While painting the stoplight (and each other) they receive urgent phone calls from a boss named HIM. We witness apparitions and Eelectron’s crucifixion who as a victim of Plankton’s paint atop the stoplight is entirely yellow. Our hero is revived by a goddess named Neutrino who arises from a trashcan. The plot thickens as the stoplight changes from green to yellow to red, and again to green.

About the Author

Dan Keller is a fresh voice in American letters with a growing reputation. He writes novels, poetry, and essays on Kierkegaard and Nietzsche. His book THE LAUGHTER FACTOR has spurred the interest of psychiatrists, clinicians, and many patients. BECKETT’S APE is his first play and a similarly versatile change of pace. It is a drama written by a sage with a comedian’s grasp of language. As Keller quotes Ionesco: “Theatre isn’t literature. It just expresses what can’t be expressed in any other way.” A native of Chicago, Dan Keller has lived in Switzerland, Hong Kong, and Japan. He has worn many professional caps and once sold all his possessions to work his way around the world. His checkered career includes ghetto teacher, inner-city pastor, psychiatric counselor, and college professor. He at present teaches Philosophy and Religion at Alabama State University.