By Sharon Rus – Columnist
“Endgame,” written by Samuel Beckett and expertly directed by Christopher Dippel is an absurdist comedy where four lost souls – Hamm, Clov, Nagg and Nell – face the end of the world.
The central character, Hamm, is blind and unable to move; yet the actor, Justin Valentino, portrays him with vigor.
Valentino’s performance gives the pointless “game” a tension that keeps the audience waiting even as we wish for the “end.”
Clov, Hamm’s slave, is equally well-played by Jack Saleeby and he goes from somber to sarcastic in mere seconds. Clov goes about his servitude with a contempt yet bewildering obedience that Saleeby skillfully captures through his performance.
The play itself is uncomfortable to watch on a physical level. Eyes water. Throats scratch. Someone laughs. Wait – was that a laugh or a cry?
On a deeper level, it disturbs you. Questions go unanswered. Stories go unfinished. There is no need for me to give a true account of the plot of the play as the paralyzing pointlessness can not be summarized as well as it can be felt.
Hamm asks, “Do you not think this has gone on long enough? … This … this … thing?”
The audience laughs even as we wonder the same. Hamm constantly asks for his pain relievers, but there can be no relief to the suffering and it all just seems to go on. The never ending nothingness is punctuated by dark humor and the actors deliver these lines with a true understanding of the fine line between comedy and tragedy.
The suffering forces us to ask ourselves what our true nature is, our true meaning, our true essence as a human being when the surface has been removed.
In the play, the surface has literally been removed and the four are trapped below the earth. The characters are all that is left, and they somberly remind us with their trademark black comedy. Yet, the words seem to confuse more than inform. The “dialogue” disappears into the darkness and only death will end the torture.
Finally, it is over – Nagg and Nell are dead inside their trash cans, Clov, the faithful servant, has seemingly abandoned his master and Hamm covers his face, which signals the conclusion. Or does it? The audience whispers amongst ourselves as we clap and glance at one another. Some lurch forward from their seats to exit while others nervously stand, but there is no explanation for what we have witnessed.
I wipe my eyes and I wonder if I have been laughing or crying.
Nell summarizes the dark comedy and pointlessness of the play best, “Nothing is funnier than unhappiness, I grant you that. … Yes, yes, it’s the most comical thing in the world. And we laugh, we laugh, with a will in the beginning. But it’s always the same thing. Yes, it’s like the funny story we have heard too often, we still find it funny but we don’t laugh anymore.”