Beckett’s final drama, What Where, was originally written in French. It was first performed at the Graz Festival in 1983 and, shortly after, the play’s premiere in English was delivered at the Harold Clurman Theatre in New York. Beckett’s principal American director, Alan Schneider, directed the US performance. Faber and Faber included the work in the Collected Shorter Plays published in 1984.

By the ‘80s, however, Beckett considered that the experience of directing his (later) plays had become integral to the act of authoring dramatic work. In June 1985, he revised, adapted and directed What Where – as ‘Was Wo’ – in Stuttgart for German television. ’His concept was not set,’ noted Jim Lewis, Beckett’s favourite camera and technical assistant. ‘He changed and changed and changed…I've never experienced that with him before. You know how concrete he is, how precise he is. Other times we could usually follow through on that with minor, minor changes; but this time there were several basic changes and he still wasn't sure.’ Indeed, Beckett’s theatrical ledgers for his later shorter plays, including the ‘Was Wo’ production, have an appearance which suggests that finality of textual accuracy is something that might only arrive when Godot arrives.