FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Beckett’s Biting, Postmodern Masterpiece
By Samuel Beckett Within the death of one thing is the birth of another. Samuel
Beckett’s postmodern theatrical masterpiece takes a biting
look at the end (and beginning?) of the world through the eyes
of Hamm and Clov and reminds us that life is forever cyclical. Tickets
can be purchased in person at The Rep Ticket Office at 108 East
Wells Street, or by telephone at 414-224-9490. Tickets can also
be purchased online 24/7 at milwaukeerep.com. Hamm yawns, mutters some nonsense. He removes his black glasses, wipes his eyes, his face, the glasses, and returns them to his face, folding the handkerchief and neatly placing it in his breast pocket. “Can there be misery – (he yawns) – loftier than mine?” The title of ENDGAME comes from the term used in chess to designate
the third and final part of the game. Beckett’s ENDGAME examines
the darkness - or end - that permeates his four characters: Clov,
Hamm, Nell and Nagg. Beckett scores the play as if it were music,
with distinct pauses in speech, reflective of the distance and
dissonance between the characters, and between the characters and
reality. Nell and Nagg live in ashbins – literally confined
to darkness – occasionally
raising the lids to speak. Most of the dialogue in ENDGAME exists
between their blind paraplegic son, Hamm, and his attendant, Clov. Finally, the time comes for Hamm’s painkiller and Clov states that the dosage has run out. Clov leaves, once again saying that he will not return. Hamm sits alone in the center of the room. He calls out for his companion, but this time, Clov does not reappear. Hamm closes his eyes and covers his face with the blood-stained handkerchief. Returning to his layered sanctuary, Hamm cloaks himself in darkness. As Literary Director Kristin Crouch wrote in
a recent issue of The Rep’s Prologue publication, the
antics of Nell and Nagg, Hamm and Clov “create humor and
entertainment in depending on one another, in the very act of depicting
the human condition in characters such as these Beckett produces
not sadness and desolation, but warmth, humor and empathy for all
the rest of us who continually fail and cling to the hope that
relief may be just around the next corner.” In 1938, he was stabbed on the street in Paris, perforating his lung. Beckett later visited his assailant in prison. When the writer asked why, the attacker replied, “Je ne sais pas, Monsieur” (“I do not know, Sir.”) Later, Beckett would quote the phrase, highlighting the dark humor that underlies his work. A young piano student, Suzanne Dechevaux-Dumesnil, had called the ambulance when Beckett was stabbed. She became his solitary companion, and the two were eventually married in England in 1961 after a strong courtship, including when they sought refuge in Roussillon, France from the Nazis in 1942. The French government later awarded Beckett for his efforts in the French Resistance during WWII. Following the liberation of Paris in 1945, he and Suzanne returned, and the next five years proved the most prolific in Beckett’s career. During this era, Beckett produced his most well-known play, WAITING FOR GODOT (written in 1948 - ’49), ENDGAME (1955 -’57), KRAPP’S LAST TAPE (1958) and HAPPY DAYS (1960) as well as the three novels Malloy (1951), Malone Dies (1951) and The Unnamable (1953). He began writing in French because, Beckett said, it liberated him from the constraints of familiarity and the weakness of style. In 1988, Suzanne and he moved to a nursing home, where Suzanne died in July of the following year. Beckett, who continued writing until the end, suffered respiratory problems and died shortly after his wife on December 22, 1989. Director Ben Barnes is delighted to return to
Milwaukee Rep after having been here last season to direct TRANSLATIONS
and A MONTH IN THE COUNTRY the season before. He was the founding
Artistic Director of Ireland’s Opera Theatre Company and
in a career spanning 25 years he has been a director of Groundwork,
director of Dublin’s Gaiety Theatre and, most recently, Artistic
Director of the Abbey Theatre, Ireland’s National Theatre
(2000 – 2005). Currently he is the Director of The Theatre
Royal Waterford, Ireland’s oldest performing arts venue (1787).
His productions have been seen all over the world – in Sydney,
Perth, Adelaide, Melbourne, Prague, Budapest, Athens, London, Edinburgh,
Glasgow, Moscow, St. Petersburg, Tokyo, Boston, New York, Chicago,
Toronto and Montreal, among other cities. Most recently he has
directed THE CRIPPLE OF INISHMAAN (Theatre Calgary); SKY ROAD,
a new play by Jim Nolan, at his own theatre in Ireland; THE IMPORTANCE
OF BEING EARNEST in Montreal and again in Toronto; the world premiere
of Shelagh Stephenson’s new play ENLIGHTENMENT in Dublin
and his production of THE PLOUGH AND THE STARS by Sean O’Casey
opened the 2005 Barbican International Theatre Events (B.I.T.E.)
in London. Ben lives with his wife, Julia, and daughters, Elishka
and Milena, in Wexford in the South East of Ireland where his family
have been from time immemorial. Beckett’s Biting, Postmodern Masterpiece DESCRIPTION: Within the death of one thing is the birth of another. Samuel Beckett’s postmodern theatrical masterpiece takes a biting look at the end (and beginning?) of the world through the eyes of Hamm and Clov and reminds us that life is forever cyclical. PERFORMANCES: Friday, 3/21/08 - 8:00 p.m. - Preview Tuesday, 4/1/08 - 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, 4/15/08 - 7:30 p.m. TICKETS/INFORMATION: 414-224-9490 or buy tickets online at milwaukeerep.com TICKET OFFICE LOCATION: 108 East Wells Street in Milwaukee’s Downtown Theater District TICKET OFFICE HOURS: Mon
- Fri, 12 pm - 6 pm on phones, 12 pm - curtain for window ###
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