'Mixing Media', or the Bee and the Bonnet: 'Play' between Radio, Theatre, Television and Film

Despite Beckett’s claim of having a 'bee in [his] bonnet' about “ 'mixing media', intermediality and transmedial adaptation were important sources of innovation for his writing, especially from the 1950s onwards.The present article analyses 'Play' (1964) as a good example of this dynamic by demonstrating (1) how its genesis was influenced by Beckett’s experience with radio, and (2) how its own transmedial history proves that rather than rejecting 'mixing media' in principle, Beckett’s ostensible insistence on 'keeping our genres distinct' turns out to be an appeal to fullye xploit the medium specific properties of radio, theatre, film and television.