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Written by
Samuel Beckett
Directed by
Matthew Warchus
Cast
Hamm
Michael Gambon
Clov
Lee Evans
Nagg
Geoffrey Hutchings
Nell
Liz Smith
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Albery
Theatre
25 February
- 8 May 2004 |
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Beckett as theatre
is always hard going. Not simply because
the texts are difficult, but because
Beckett's world is essentially solipsistic
and devoid of any genuine communication.
As Beckett himself wonderfully puts
it in his prose work The
Unnameable,
"There is nothing to recover, there
is nothing to discover, there is nothing
that can lessen what remains to say".
A play, which involves at least some
connection with the audience, and usually
some connection between actors, works
against the solipsism that is at Beckett's
heart. It is this, rather than the oft-repeated
criticism, that in his plays nothing
ever really happens that renders his
theatre so problematic. Many of Beckett's
best theatre pieces, such as Not
I and Krapp's
Last Tape,
are simple monologues, and are thus
better suited to bring out his theme
of a single isolation. Endgame,
however, is clearly one of Beckett's
best efforts involving multiple characters,
and as theatre piece it generally plays
better than his more famous Waiting
for Godot.
This particular production has some
admirable points, most notably, the
performance of the comic Lee Evans as
the beleaguered servant Clov. Beckett,
a great admirer of Buster Keaton ‚ though
the respect was by no means mutual ‚
has a large soft spot for slapstick.
Evans adds his own excellent version
in filling out Clov's role, which often
involves lots of bumbling movements
without any dialogue. Evan's, it seems
from notes he contributed to the production
programme, is anxious that he is a little
out of his depth in such serious theatre.
Absolutely not true. His manic, spastic
movements help fill out a role that
can often seem rather tedious and empty
‚ incessant, near silent, climbing up
and down ladders, moving Hamm's wheelchair
around the stage and the like. Evan's
Clov is by far the best I have seen.
The normally brilliant Michael Gambon,
on the other hand, is less of a success
as Hamm. His booming declamation often
manages to override the humorous intent
of many of Beckett's lines. For instance,
very near the beginning of the play
Hamm utters the line "Can there
be misery loftier than mine? No doubt."
Presumably, the idea is that the first
sentence is uttered in a serious, stentorian
manner. The last two words, "No
doubt", are, in contrast, to be
uttered in an off-hand, flippant manner.
The point here is that after suggesting
the depth of his suffering Ham then
undermines that intent by his dismissive
tone. With Gambon shouting all the lines
at the same pitch that contrast is totally
lost. At other times Gambon unaccountably
varies his accent, possibly at times
aiming for an Irish accent, at other
times it seems an American accent is
in the offing. The point of these variations
is obscure. The minor roles of Hamm's
garbage bin entrapped parents, Nell
(played by Liz smith) and Nag (Geoffrey
Hutchings), are very capably handled,
again showing due care to Beckett's
comic intent. The set, minimal as it
is required to be, is perfectly adequate
to its task.
What
can one say about Beckett as theatre?
Having spent way to much of my youth
learning many of Beckett's texts by
heart, I now, in thinking of Beckett,
always return to John Updike's brilliant,
incisive, and devastating review of
Beckett's prose work How
It Is. There
Updike accurately describes Beckett
as "This proud priest perfecting
his forlorn ritual", and chides
Beckett for his adolescent and persistent
pose of shot-through solipsism. As one
ploughs through Beckett's corpus one
more and more appreciates Updike's point
about Beckett's seemingly arrested intellectual
development. But of course, Beckett's
language is often brilliant and his
use of humour helps things pass. For
those who want a taste of Beckett, and
compared to his prose masterpiece, the
trilogy of Molloy,
Malone
Dies and
The
Unnameable,
all his theatre is really just Beckett
lite, Endgame
is a fair entry into Beckett's sparse,
depopulated universe. And this production,
especially Evan's wonderful Clov, keeps
things moving, as much as Beckett ever
allows for any genuine movement.
Ken Gemes |
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