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==Synopsis==
The play opens in darkness. Itand fadesgradually up to a shot from behind ofreveals M, a "man“man sitting on [an] invisible stool and bowed over [an] invisible table."”<ref name="multiref4">{{cite book |first=Samuel |last=Beckett |date=1984 |title=Collected Shorter Plays of Samuel Beckett |___location=London |publisher=Faber & Faber |page=257 |isbn=978-0-5711-3040-5}}</ref> He is wearingdressed hisin a [[nightshirt|gown]] and [[Nightcap (garment)|nightcap]]., Thisand this is the only way we ever seehe himappears in the present, bowedthroughout overthe his tableplay. The camera returns torevisits this image fifteen times throughout the play.
WeAs the play unfolds, we hear a voice andthat we assume it belongs to the man we are looking atM, at leastas it isreflects his thoughts we hear. He isrecalls rememberingpast theencounters circumstanceswith under which he has seen thea woman inand thesimultaneously past.visualizes Whilehis heremembered remembersor we see M1, his remembered/imagined self, goreferred throughto theas motions describedM1, atacting leastout whatthe littledescribed actuallymotions takes place inwithin the circle of light. HeM changes his mind aboutcontemplates what causestriggers herthe towoman's appearappearance. At first he says, "When I thought of her..."<ref>{{cite book |first=Samuel |last=Beckett |date=1984 |title=Collected Shorter Plays of Samuel Beckett |___location=London |publisher=Faber & Faber |page=259 |isbn=978-0-5711-3040-5}}</ref> but helater realisesrealizing that is inaccurate; the womanshe simply ''appears''manifests to him, and always at night. He goesreflects overon his routine, carefully starting fromwith his return home after walking the roads since daybreak:.<ref>Both inIn his“Damned biographyto of BeckettFame” (''Damned to Fame'' p.634 364) and in a chapter within his book ''Frescoes“Frescoes of the Skull''Skull” (p. 261), James Knowlson draws a parallel with thisBeckett’s manprotagonist and the type of characters written by [[John Millington Synge|Synge]].</ref> heHe enters,changes goesinto tonight the closet and swaps his [[greatcoat]] and hat for a nightgown and capattire, then he enters his sanctum, and triesattempts to summon her,the alwayswoman without joysuccess, whereuponand at dawn, he dresses once again and headssets out on the road.
In summary, the play begins with M in darkness, seen in a recurring pose at his invisible table. We hear M's thoughts as he reminisces about encountering the woman, while M1 acts out these recollections in the circle of light. M reflects on the cause of her appearance, his routine, and his continuous cycle of summoning her at night and leaving at dawn.
The voice lists the three instances listed above where the woman has appeared to him in the past. When he reaches the third one the camera cuts to the woman's face, "reduced as far as possible to eyes and a mouth",<ref name="multiref4"/> which mouths silently along with the voice, "...clouds...but the clouds...of the sky..."<ref name="ShorterPlays261">{{cite book |first=Samuel |last=Beckett |date=1984 |title=Collected Shorter Plays of Samuel Beckett |___location=London |publisher=Faber & Faber |page=261 |isbn=978-0-5711-3040-5}}</ref> The man then realises there is a fourth case, but not really a fourth ''{{linktext|per se}}'' because so much of the time, by far the greatest amount of the time, nothing happens, the woman never even appears.
AlthoughDespite fromthe impression created by the opening scene, it seemsis likenot the case that he spends every night willingsolely focused on summoning the woman to appear,. thisThere isn'tare theinstances case. Sometimeswhen he growsbecomes weary and occupiesengages himself within other thingsactivities that arehe finds "more ... rewarding, such as ... [[cube root]]s"<ref name="ShorterPlays261" /> or sits absorbed with nothing – which he describes as a mine – like the man in ''[[Film (film)|Film]]''.
We see M1 prepare for the road again and leave. The voice says, "Right," then the woman's face appears once more and the voice repeats the final four lines of Yeats's poem. This time, however, the woman does not mouth the words. Her face dissolves, we are left with the man sitting at his invisible table where we began and everythingall fades to black.
==Title==
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