Endgame

by Samuel Beckett
 

  • Directed and played by Teatrino Giullare
    Teatrino Giullare production
    Scene and figures Cicuska
    Masks De Marchi Brothers

    -Premio Speciale Ubu 2006
    -National Italian Award of Critics 2006
    -The Special Jury Recognition and The “Brave new world” Award, for the direction at the 47^ International Theatre Festival Mess 2007 of Sarajevo
      
    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

    A very original look with great ideas. Alfonso Carvajal, El Tiempo (Colombia)


     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 (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

    Two great actors in a magical ritual movements. Nicanor J. Cardenosa, Yo Dona (Spain)

    Thrilling originality, cleanliness, persuasion.
     Roberto Canziani, Hystrio


    Beckett on a pure state, geometrically visionary.
     Raffaella Grassi, Il Secolo XIX
    Original and very skilled actors.
     Clara Rubbi, Corriere Mercantile
    Evocative and masterfully played    .
     Alberto Fornasier, Teatro.org

     An original idea for the re-creation of this work. Julio Castro, La Republica Cultural (Spain)

    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

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