As the end approaches, blind Hamm sits and his servant Clov stands, and they bicker and complain together in their small house. Hamm cannot stand, Clov cannot sit, they are bound together by former love and not-yet-hate as Hamm mulls over his life’s chronicles. When Clov can take no more, he disappears to his kitchen, and Hamm calls on his parents, Nagg and Nell, to listen to him instead. Nagg and Nell are even less mobile than Hamm, who is confined in a chair which Clov moves at Hamm’s order; they reside in dust bins at one side of the room. Left to their own devices, they also bicker and grumble together, Nell lapsing into reminiscence of the days of their youth together and the memory of boating on Lake Como.
The various stories and lamenting of what has passed and gone from the world suggest that the entire world has ended, but it is never clear whether the house is a physical house or the internal voices within one person’s head. Director Andrew Ross keeps that distinction ambiguous in this large stage production of Endgame by Black Swan State Theatre Company, following Beckett’s wishes to play his script exactly as written. The script is particularly dense, with exact stage directions for the method of delivery.
Geoff Kelso relishes his part as cantankerous, obstreperous Hamm, fused with his armchair and picking fault with everything that Clov does or does not do. He delivers his lines closely to the script’s particular directions, but chooses to stay in part rather than exaggerating the dynamics of dramatic range demanded by Beckett. While an impressive feat of memory, his recounting of the longer monologues can drag, the repetitive nature of the text losing impact without the extreme mood swings expected as accompaniment.
Kelton Pell occupies Clov, with his distinct shuffling physicality, the only movement on stage to catch the eye. The deliberate movements, just shy of slapstick when using his stepladder to reach windows, and resignation apparent in his attempts to draw breath, create the tedium of existence for this character even more than his despairing lines. The forced laughter, the patient servitude and a sense of lack and loss are painful to watch, exactly as Beckett intended.
Amazingly physical presence derives from the long gangling arms of George Shevtsov as Nagg, when he arises from under the cover of his bin. The lid tilts up, fingers emerge to grip the rim and then a face appears with expressions that might be drawn on by a cartoonist, face paint only emphasising the alternating lines of comedy and tragedy. Caroline McKenzie maintains Nell’s face stuck in an immobile caricature of grief for most of her time on stage. The maintenance of expression is remarkable and speaks its own volumes for her acting discipline and skill beyond her more high profile screen roles through her career.
The set is impressive, set and costume designer Tyler Hill taking the script directions and applying an outback Australian twist. The sparse house frame, a silhouette as in a child’s drawing, with pointed roof, a door and two windows, is covered in a palette of overlapping and textured ochre hues. The mismatched “shadows” thrown by the walls into the room are likewise echoes of this design, arcing away from Hamm’s central location and defining the limits of the claustrophobic performance space.
The intense thought expressed through the limited closing moves of a game of chess, and the futility of existence and humanity, are enacted through Beckett’s famous work. Many words have been written about the layers of meaning within the words and lack of movement – Ross and Black Swan State Theatre Company’s fidelity in this production allow thoughtful audiences to take their own interpretations away with them.
3 ½ stars out of 5
Endgame
By Samuel Beckett
Presented by Black Swan State Theatre Company
Directed by Andrew Ross
Set & Costume Designer Tyler Hill
Lighting Designer Mark Howett
Assistant Director Gabrielle Metcalf
Stage Manager Georgia Landre-Ord
Performed by Geoff Kelso, Caroline McKenzie, Kelton Pell and George Shevtsov
Heath Ledger Theatre, State Theatre Centre of WA, Perth Cultural Centre
27 May 2017 – 11 June 2017
