Research on Endgame

• Four characters (Hamm, Clov, Nagg, and Nell)
• Hamm: old, blind, stuck in his chair
• Clov: Hamm’s servant/son?, cannot sit down
• Nagg: Hamm’s father, stuck in a trash can
• Nell: Hamm’s mother, also stuck in a trash can
• Main conflict: Will Clov be able to leave Hamm?
• Samuel Beckett (author of play)
• Suffered from depression as a young man
• Met his wife in hospital after being stabbed
• During WWII fought w the resistance
• After war, won award for bravery & started to write
• Very influential writer in 20th century
• Endgame = his favorite, & most profound
• Theater of the absurd
• Just presents an idea/problem, no solution
• Leaves big questions for audience to decide
• Uses techniques like broad humor, tragic images, hopeless situations, parody or downright no realism
• Characters usually symbolic
• Existentialism: philosophical background to absurd theater  
• Two approaches to play: end play where it began, or this day is the worst day for characters
• Themes
• Caring for sick (Beckett taking care of his parents while dying)
• The apocalypse (Cold War-like situations, little supplies, no one around
• Death/leaving (Clov wants to leave Hamm, constant threat of loss of their life)
• Interdependency (Everyone relies on everyone else)
• Chess (Beckett liked to play, Hamm = king, moved around by Clov, but who is really in power?)
• Director (Gordon Edelstein)
• Wouldn’t do this play until he got the right ppl to act for him