|
Endgame
by Samuel Beckett
|
|
|
Tuesday 27th November - |
The Tower Theatre performing at the Bridewell Theatre |
|
Beckett Brought To Life
Just sometimes, the best of amateur companies come up with a production which puts in the shade all those numerous Fringe productions with pretentions to
'professionalism' put on by out-of-work drama graduates and thespian bottom-feeders. Endgame, in the Tower Theatre's blisteringly good
presentation, captures every flicker, every nuance in the mysterious relationship between Hamm and Clov.
Hamm is blind and cannot walk; Clov cannot sit down. Nell and Nagg, Hamm's parents whom he summons in memory, dwell inside a couple of bespoke
coalbunkers, obsessed with food as the very old often are. The whole thing - it can hardly be described as action - takes place in a claustrophic
ill-lit interior which traps the protagonists as surely as they trap each other in their symbiotic games.
Games are important. They're in the title, after all. Beckett has a kind of lugubrious playfulness, as characters play jokes on each other to fill
in the time while waiting for the end - mortality barely kept at bay. People tend to forget how funny Beckett can be; Ian Hoare (Hamm) and Andy Murton
(Clov) are not afraid of getting the laughs - no false reverence here. But they can turn on a dime to face the abyss and plunge you into pessimistic
melancholy in an instant.
Beckett said of Joyce, "His writing is not about something; it is that something itself." Director Roger Beaumont quotes this in his programme note,
and has clearly taken it to heart. Wisely he gets the actors not to play the themes, or the characters, but the lines themselves, in all their
rich demanding quicksilver detail. It is an exercise in the most ferocious concentration. He is well-served in particular by a barnstorming performance
from Hoare, whose interrupted monologue sustains most of the play. Vocally very well-equipped and with a face on which every passing shade registers,
he delivers a performance which if there was any justice would be up for awards. He is ably supported by Andy Murton who is a fine physical clown.
Music hall is not far below the surface in Beckett's work, and these two make a great double act.
Endgame deserves a far longer run than it's getting here, and I hope the company are looking to take it elsewhere. In case they aren't,
you have until Saturday.
Review in "Broadway Baby" by Peter Scott-Presland
Photography by Max Weiner
Fantastic Performance of Beckett's Mastery
Of all the plays in Samuel Beckett's deep and dark closet Endgame is possible the bleakest. The world is winked at by Beckett in an existence in
which everything exists only when finished. It is a relentless play as we are stuck in a room, shielded from the outer worlds looming doom but where
cruelty and futility equally prevail. The powerful but pitiful Hamm sits blind, unable to walk and wailing orders at his limp companion Clov who cannot
for the life of him walk away. It is a very hard play to get right, because amongst the bleakness Beckett has marvellously and mysteriously worked
in humour and a real tenderness that engages audiences through entire act, and it is at times a real struggle for actors and directors to match this
mastery.
In this production by the historic Tower Theatre Company, they have matched it and completely captured Beckett's tone to engage and produce a
blanketing bleakness yet entertain and engage the audience. With only four characters in a set where there is not a place to hide, the cast
all together are fantastic. But it is the central performances of Ian Hoare as Hamm and Andy Murton as Clov that are the superb foundations
of this production. The chemistry between the two is full of fire, warmth and fear, really fantastic. Ian Hoare's portrayal of Hamm has been
allowed by the director to be totally full on with no restraints, and it is a powerhouse. There is always the chance that when you let an actor
of the reigns it becomes complete melodrama and problematic, but Hoare sustains the intensity and theatrics from the start right to the end and
completely engrosses you in the character. Murton as Clov is not as overblown but excellent in the other respect of acting, it is a perfectly
measured performance, hitting all the right beats and never being overshadowed by Hamm unless the play deemed so.
I thoroughly enjoyed this production of a true classic and important play and wholeheartedly recommend anyone to go see it.
Review in "Remote Goat" by Hassan Vawda
|
Cast |
Production Team |
 | Ian Hoare's acting career began at the age of 13, playing the storm in King Lear. Forty years on he joined the Tower where he has, for the most part, performed on a somewhat smaller scale. His favourite roles have been Otto in The Diary of Anne Frank, Rev. Parris in The Crucible and more recently Lord Cecil in 5/11. A journalist and lecturer by trade, Ian lives in Holloway within easy walking distance of the greatest football team the world has ever seen.
|
 | This is Andy Murton's debut role with the Tower Theatre Company. He recently appeared at the Bridewell playing alternate roles as Napoleon and Lieutenant in The Man of Destiny for SEDOS. He trained at Bretton Hall and after spending 8 years living in Spain has returned to London and his first love of acting.
|
|
 | Robert Pennant Jones joined the Tower Theatre in 1962 to play Greene in Arden of Feversham, so this is his 50th Anniversary performance.
Since his debut he has directed and/or acted in over 30 full length productions at Canonbury where his career was interrupted several times by overseas postings and business commitments. He returned to acting in 1993 and in recent years has played Prospero in The Tempest, Captain Shotover in Heartbreak House, Professor Serebriakov in Uncle Vanya and Colonel Redfern in Look Back in Anger and also played Pozzo in his second production of Waiting for Godot.
Since retirement he has also been active in Fringe Productions.
|
 | Penny Tuerk joined the Tower in 1970 and has taken part in nearly seventy productions as an actor or director, most recently directing David Copperfield in London and at the Minack Theatre in Cornwall. Her first experience of working on a Beckett text was voicing a very strange Finnish film version of Eh Joe in 1990.
|