The action of Krapp's Last Tape occurs on "a late evening in the future" in the title character's den. Specifically, the play takes place on Krapp's sixty-ninth birthday. Every year since he was twenty-four, Krapp a would-be writer who has failed as such has recorded his impressions of the previous year and then catalogued the resulting tape's number and contents in a ledger, which he keeps locked in his desk. The play depicts Krapp listening to a tape from thirty years ago (recorded when he was thirty-nine) and then recording this year's tape.

When the play begins, Krapp is sitting at his desk, consulting his watch to confirm that the exact time of his birth is approaching this is when he will record this year's impressions. There is a great amount of silent stage business, as Krapp fumbles with the keys to his desk drawers, removes...