 By Samuel Beckett
Directed by Peter Lichtenfels
"Nothing is funnier than unhappiness, I’ll grant you that."
– Nell, Endgame.
2007 marks the 50th anniversary of Samuel Beckett’s Endgame, perhaps the theatrical masterpiece of the 20th century. In this surprisingly funny play, four characters: the tyrannical blind Hamm, his parents Nagg and Nell and the downtrodden Clov live out their days in a strange room with one window that looks on the sea and another that looks on the earth. In this distilled world, Hamm (a name for an actor?) dominates the proceedings like a wrecked Shakespearean protagonist with echoes of Richard III, King Lear and Prospero. Clov likewise seems like a late incarnation of Shakespeare’s fools, sharpening his wits against the powerless absurdity of his existence. Beckett lays bare the essence of theatre itself: its humour, pathos and beauty, and its power to compel us to create significance for ourselves as we watch. Endgame, to be performed on SSC’s Mainstage, is the SSC directorial debut of Peter Lichtenfels, former Artistic Director of the Traverse Theatre in Edinburgh, Scotland and the Leicester Haymarket, England. He is currently Chair of the Department of Theatre & Dance at UC Davis. The role of Hamm will be played by Artistic Director Paul Whitworth in his final season with SSC. Photo: Director Peter Lichtenfels.
Production Sponsors
- Christine and Ron Barrington
- Jack Baskin and Peggy Downes Baskin
- Pat and Rowland Rebele |
