| Endgame | |
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Cover illustration of Hamm from a French edition of the play |
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| Written by | Samuel Beckett |
| Characters | Hamm Clov Nagg Nell |
| Date premiered | 3 April 1957 |
| Place premiered | Royal Court Theatre, London |
| Original language | French |
| Genre | Tragicomedy |
| IOBDB profile | |
Endgame, by Samuel Beckett, is a one-act play with four characters, written in a style associated with the Theatre of the Absurd. It was originally written in French (entitled Fin de partie); as was his custom, Beckett himself translated it into English. The play was first performed in a French-language production at the Royal Court Theatre in London, opening on 3 April 1957. It is commonly considered, along with such works as Waiting for Godot, to be among Beckett's most important works.
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The play focuses on Hamm, an aged master who is blind and not able to stand up, and his servant Clov, who cannot sit down. They exist in a location by the sea, although the dialogue suggests that there is nothing left outside—no sea, no sun, no clouds. The two characters, mutually dependent, have been fighting for years and continue to do so as the play progresses. Clov always wants to leave but never seems to be able. Also present are Hamm's legless parents Nagg and Nell, who live in rubbish bins downstage and initially request food or argue inanely.
The English title is taken from the last part of a chess game, when there are very few pieces left, and the outcome is obvious (the French title applies to games besides chess and Beckett lamented the fact that there was no precise English equivalent); Beckett himself was an avid chess player.
It has also been suggested that Hamm relates to "ham actor" and Ham, son of Noah, while Clov is a truncated version of "clown," as well as suggesting cloven hoof (of the devil) and glove (a distant echo of hand and glove, perhaps). Nagg suggests nagging and the German nagen (to gnaw), while Nell recalls Dickens' Little Nell.[1] Equally Hamm could be short for Hammer and Clov be "clove", hammer and nail representing one aspect of their relationship.[2] In this light, Nagg and Nell, taken together, may suggest the German Nagel (nail); vague references in the text to Hamm's neighbor, Mother Pegg, are also relevant. Further, in the Paris Review article "Exorcising Beckett", the author writes that Beckett stated the names to be as follows: Hamm for Hammer, Clov for clou (the French for nail), Nagg for nagel (the German for nail), and Nell because of its resemblance to the English word nail.[3]
Ruby Cohn, in her book Back to Beckett, writes that "Beckett's favorite line in the play is Hamm's deduction from Clov's observation that Nagg is crying: Then he's living." But in Berlin he felt that the most important sentence is Nell's: "Nothing is funnier than unhappiness." and he directed his play to show the fun of unhappiness.
The implication in the play is that the characters live in an unchanging, static state. Each day contains the actions and reactions of the day before, until each event takes on an almost ritualistic quality. Repetition (in language and circumstance) is often viewed as a major theme in Endgame (and other Beckett productions), as it articulates the human condition, as we repeat our mistakes and habits. It is made clear, through the text, that the characters have a past (most notably through Nagg and Nell who conjure up memories of tandem rides in the Ardennes). However, there is no indication that they may have a future. Even the death of Nell, which occurs towards the end of the play, is greeted with a lack of surprise. The isolated setting, the diseased characters, and the constant references to aspects of civilization that no longer exist, have led many to suggest the play is post-nuclear. However, Beckett always denied this.
The play was premiered on 3 April 1957 at the Royal Court Theatre, London, directed by Roger Blin, who also played Hamm; Jean Martin was Clov, Georges Adet was Nagg and Christine Tsingos was Nell. The production later transferred to the Studio des Champs-Elysees, Paris. Other early productions were those at the Cherry Lane Theatre, New York, 28 January 1958, directed by Alan Schneider with Lester Rawlins as Hamm and Alvin Epstein together with Gerald Hiken playing Clov; and at the Royal Court directed by George Divine who also played Hamm, with Jack MacGowran as Clov.[4]
Beckett himself directed two productions of the play: at the Schiller-Theater Werkstatt, Berlin, 26 September 1967, with Ernst Schröder as Hamm and Horst Bollmann as Clov; and at the Riverside Studios, London, May 1980 with Rick Cluchey as Hamm and Bud Thorpe as Clov.[4]
In 1984, JoAnne Akalaitis directed the play at the American Repertory Theatre in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The production featured music from Phillip Glass and was set in a derelict subway tunnel. Grove Press, the owner of Beckett's work, took legal action against the theatre. The issue was settled out of court through the agreement of an insert into the program, part of which was written by Beckett himself:
Any production of Endgame which ignores my stage directions is completely unacceptable to me. My play requires an empty room and two small windows. The American Repertory Theater production which dismisses my directions is a complete parody of the play as conceived by me. Anybody who cares for the work couldn't fail to be disgusted by this.[5]
In 2005, Tony Roberts starred as Hamm in a revival directed by Charlotte Moore at the Irish Repertory Theater in New York City with Alvin Epstein as Nagg, Adam Heller as Clov and Kathryn Grody as Nell[6].
In 2008 there was a brief revival staged at the Brooklyn Academy of Music that starred John Turturro as Hamm, Max Casella as Clov, Alvin Epstein as Nagg and Elaine Stritch as Nell. Though originally planned to be directed by Sam Mendes, this did not come to fruition and Andrei Belgrader was instead hired.
The British theatre company Complicite staged the play in London's West End with Mark Rylance as Hamm and Simon McBurney (who also directed the production) as Clov.[7] The production opened on 2 October 2009 at the Duchess Theatre.[7] Tim Hatley designed the set.[7]
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