Waiting for Godot (1953) is Samuel Beckett's best-known play about two tramps waiting for the elusive Godot.

The Unnamable (1953) is the third novel of Beckett's trilogy, including Molloy (1951) and Malone Dies (1951). All three novels, which were originally written in French, are interior monologues containing flashes of dark humor.

Krapp's Last Tape (1958) is another of Beckett's stage plays. It consists of a monologue in which the aged Krapp attempts to recapture the intensity of days long passed by listening to recordings of his younger self.

Eugène Ionseco's play The Chairs (1958) is about a man who had opportunities to lead a great life but led a simple life with his wife instead. After many years, he decides to tell society his secret. The only characters in the play are the old man, the woman, and the person the old man hires...