UCP Our Work | common-players

Endgame

by Samuel Beckett

Following a successful run at The Bike Shed Theatre, Exeter in 2013, this 2017 re-mounting of Beckett’s classic play is the fourth Westcountry tour by the Uncommon Players.

Last year’s tour of The Browning Version was warmly received by audiences across Devon and Somerset. This year Endgame, supported by Arts Council England will be the most ambitious tour to date for the Devon company.

“I was very moved. Wonderful performances. Great to see this locally. Thank you.”

“Some lovely Tableaux. All actors got and committed to their roles. Beckett is hard on a very small stage but I got to see new things in the play. Very glad I came.”

“Great set, great acting, very moved. Thanks.”

"Excellent production, very well delivered, Thankyou."

"Great Dynamic between Hamm and Clov - Beautifully acted."

"Fantastically acted, intriguing yet unfathomable"

"Really well acted, well done Hamm and Clov"

"Powerful, the courage of existence, when I review it in my mind it is like a poem."

Passing their days in a bare room, the nearly blind, chair-bound tyrant Hamm and his dutiful but resentful and hard of hearing servant Clov exist in a constant see-saw of pathos and hatred, love and hope.

While the battling conversation between master and servant intensifies, Hamm’s parents, Nell and Nagg toy with nostalgia. Symbolic of the the enthusiasms of youth and how the young can disregard the needs of the old, even as the old reminisce about their youthful enthusiasms.

In this mix of dark comedic wordplay and macabre insight, Beckett’s mastery is evident – absurdity in the face of meaninglessness, sorrow in the face of futility, humour in the face of mortality.

“Lovingly produced, meticulously performed, this excellent realization…” (Remotegoat 2013)