Endgame.

This is a longggg overdue post. Feeling guilty. Feeling guilty.

I caught Endgame on its opening night thinking that I'll be able to blog about it and perhaps help publicise it a little.

It's been a week since, and well, there are no more shows to catch.

But still, I thought I'll shove my thoughts of the play down your throats anyway.

Yeah, you know you like it!

I caught the play on the night of my birthday actually. Whee! I know right? I'm so goddamn happening it's simply unfathomable by the average human brain.

I mean, can you think of any other better ways to spend the night of your birthday than watching a dark, depressing stage play about death and the end of the world at some godforsaken place far, far away from civilization?

Thought so.

The Endgame.
In a game of chess, there are 3 stages, the opening, the middlegame, and the endgame. "The Endgame" refers to a stage of the game where there are very few major (a queen/rook/bishop/knight/ and of course the king) pieces left on the board. This usually means that the game will soon come to an end by a king's capture (checkmate) or a draw.

So one fine day, this Samuel Beckett fellow came along and decided to create a rather morbid play of the same name. A one act play which represented "the end". I think he was feeling depressed and high on something, and was too chicken shit to slit his throat or flush his head down the toilet, so he took the easy way out and wrote a play to tell everybody how depressed he was. You know these suicidal people, always very attention seeking one.

Endgame, The Play.
So in this play, there are 4 characters. It looks like it's set after an apocalypse, as if they are the ONLY 4 people left on the planet, or something.

Hamm - The lead character who can't stand up. Can't see. And is afraid of dying. No actually, more like, afraid of being left alone in silence and darkness for as long as he lives. The ENTIRE play is centred around him coming to terms with THE END.

Clov - Hamm's almost-a-son-servant who can't sit. Always wants to leave Hamm but just can't bring himself to.... or can he? *jeng jeng*

Nagg - Hamm's dad. Who lives in a rubbish bin. No legs. Always wanting something.

Nell - Hamm's mum. Who ALSO lives in a rubbish bin. No legs. Dies within 10 minutes of the play.

The REAL people.
U-En - Plays Hamm. Was kicking some serious ass. I have no other words to describe how brilliant he was. Out of the entire 80 minutes, he must've spoken for at least 60 minutes of it. Insane stage presence. Maniacally Batshit Insane.

Alvin - Plays the blumbering Clov. It was weird seeing him OUT of the tv screen, but he wasn't half bad either. When I caught it on opening night his accent was a little weird, though.

Sharifah Amani - Plays Nell. We only see her for about 5 minutes, but her presence was felt throughout the entire play right till the end. This is her first play I reckon? Good job! I wish there was more of her sniff. She's damn hot. So tiny can put in me pocket. I'm really curios, did they supply her with video games or other means of entertainment in that bin of her to pass the time?

Kelvin - Plays Nagg. He played Nagg like a cute, almost-senile whimsical old man and I liked it so much I felt like running onto the stage just to pinch his cheeks.

The Pictures.
Sigh. No pictures. I mean there ARE pictures, but being the most horrendous "blogger" that I am, I did NOT bring a camera with me and relied on the generosity of others to be my cameraperson. Due to some unforseen circumstances, I still do NOT have the pictures with me.

However, so as not to dissapoint all 5 of you, I have painstakingly spent over 300 seconds to draw up some scenes which, I'd like believe, captures the heart of the play & characters.

So here it is, Endgame in 4 pictures (slides? something.) Enjoy.

Oh WAIT. I won't be held responsible if you lose sleep, puke, go mad, start eating hamsters etcetc over the sheer horrendousness of my artistic talents.

Okay, NOW enjoy it, DAMNIT.









Ohmygod it's almost like you WERE THERE!

Did I like it?
Yeap. I sure did. It was disturbing for me, but that's because I could relate to Hamm's issues with the whole death and dying deal.

Even after a whole week of watching the play, I still catch myself randomly reciting certain memorable bits of the script, which really doesn't jive well with other people's perception of my sanity - but it DOES, however, prove that the play had SOME sort of a long lasting effect on me.... which IS a good thing.... FOR the play. But Not For Me, though.

The bastards.

More?
The Production Diary
moNSTerblog
Lainie
LimeSodaVodka