Wilson performs it with slow silence that builds up the tension.[Photo/CCTV.com]

Wilson says he has tried to bring some of silent films' sensibilities to the stage.

"In Western theater, one has theater decoration. So you decorate a play. For me, theater should be architectural, so the visual book. What I'm seeing, the movement, the gestures, the lighting; the stage set can tell a story on its own. And it's not dependent on the text. So it's not a decoration," he said.

"Krapp's Last Tape", which Beckett wrote in 1958, is about the remorse-torn reminiscence of an old man, and the merciless erosion of time and failure in his life.

Wilson performs it with slow silence that builds up the tension. The audience is forbidden from leaving the theater before the show is over, in order to keep the taut atmosphere from being interrupted.

The show is being staged for two nights at the National Theater of China in Beijing.