Staged on a chessboard for chesspieces and two players.
Hamm is a king in this chess game lost from the start.
Now at the last he makes a few senseless moves as only
a bad player would make.
A good one would have given up long ago.
He is only trying to delay the inevitable end.
Samuel Beckett
This is game of chess in which actor-players move the chesspieces and
chesspiece-characters bring to life one of the most meaningful and enigmatic
plays of the 20th century. The play is a challenge, an orchestrated series
of attacks and counterattacks, a sparring match with pauses, moments of
introspection, sighs and withdrawals. Beckett’s masterpiece is seen through
a series of possible moves made by two chesspieces and the dramatic tension
and participation of the two players.
Hamm is a static, blind chesspiece. Clov, who is also close to blindness and
immobility, tires himself out moving all over the board without ever being
able to sit down and while trying to find a way out. Nagg and Nell are
off-the-board chesspieces, half-enclosed in dustbins.
The affinity between the text and the game of chess had been declared by
Beckett himself and Endgame is the third and last part of the match. This
final phase is characterized by the small number of surviving chesspieces
and the fact that the king is no longer just a figure to be defended but
also becomes an attacker. The challenge continues at length, moves are made
repeatedly. In a desperate and dysfunctional dependent relationship, Hamm
continues making moves in an attempt to defend himself, while firing off
foolish orders at Clov (and immediately negating them with useless,
misleading moves). Clov attacks the king, fencing him in with the threat of
abandoning him, counterbalanced by an absurd and unreconciled obedience.
Senselessness, misery and humanity are revealed tragic-comically.
Legendary show.
Franco Quadri, La Repubblica
A real discovery. Original and worrying show.
Renato Palazzi Il Sole 24 ore
Striking and new, extremely painstaking and coherent.
Claudia Cannella, Corriere Della Sera
One
of the most brilliant shows of
this summer, a performance which would be appreciated by Beckett himself.
Don’t lose it.
Renato Palazzi, Delteatro.it
Fresh and sophisticated.
Gianni Manzella,
Il
Manifesto
Phenomenal, touching.
Massimo Marino,
Corriere della Sera/Corriere di Bologna
In
this extraordinary performance
you can find all the power and the tension of Beckett’s words
Patrizia Bologna, Primafila
A real rarity. [...] A fresh and charming version.
Clelia Del Ponte, Il Gazzettino
Magic charm creation
Valeria Ottolenghi La Gazzetta di Parma
Amazing […] The show is a continuous
rhytm of words and moves and sighs in a touching plaintive sound,
with great sense of theatre.
Mario Bianchi, Eolo
A
poetic and hypnotic performance, full of ideas and visions.
Valeria Ravera,
Hystrio
A masterly transposition.
Tommaso Chimenti,
Portale Giovani Teatro
