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Oct. 19th, 2009 @ 10:47 pm Theatre review: Endgame
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This production of Endgame disappointed me weeks before I even went to see it - as I'd only booked because it was meant to be Richard Briers' final stage appearance, but he then pulled out of the production. I might not otherwise have booked (as I've mentioned before, I sometimes find Beckett's plays more interesting to read than to watch.) Still, I had my ticket so went along to Complicite's production, which in fairness is pretty good. Mark Rylance replaces Briers as Hamm, blind, disabled and reliant on his servant Clov (Simon McBurney, who also directs) who is almost blind and disabled himself. Hamm's parents (Miriam Margolyes and Tom Hickey) live in dustbins and are occasionally allowed to pop their heads out and be given a biscuit. I have to say the play includes some wonderfully lyrical lines which come across very well from the cast, and I particularly liked how Paul Anderson's lighting design stayed murky and shadowy throughout. The production gives a particularly strong sense of this being a post-apocalyptic world, and the black comedy is very well delivered, both in words and actions.

Endgame by Samuel Beckett is booking until the 5th of December at the Duchess Theatre.
From:(Anonymous)
Date: October 20th, 2009 07:58 pm (UTC)
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Surely the problem with Beckett is how similar all the different stage versions are? It's due to the restrictive rights that the Beckett estate puts on people who want to put it on, it's very hard to change anything in it at all.
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From:[info]nick730
Date: October 20th, 2009 10:57 pm (UTC)
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It's a tricky one - I can see the argument that the actions are as important as the words (especially since I have to make a special effort not to give a detailed description of every last twitch in my own play.) But it does seem like the estate take this a bit too literally (there was that story in the summer of the Waiting for Godot in a toilet that fell foul to them.)
From:(Anonymous)
Date: October 21st, 2009 08:15 pm (UTC)
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Loads of stories fall foul of them ie having them both as women in Waiting for Godot. So that means that almost every production is so tightly controlled. Before you even apply for the rights you have to give a detailed proposal of what you intend to do with the play.