Death, despair and -- laughs
By MICHAEL SMITH World Entertainment Writer 02/12/02
Jenny Jackson and Dale Sams appear in a scene from Theater Club's production of "Endgame." A. CUERVO / Tulsa World
Director says audience should view 'Endgame' as 'Seinfeld' episode
Samuel Beckett's style as a playwright was usually difficult, always despairing, and the kind of work that often limited his appeal to an intellectual elite. His 1957 absurdist classic "Endgame" is pretty much the epitome of his depictions of death as the sole and inescapable destiny facing all of mankind.
With Valentine's Day set as the opening for Theater Club's premiere of this work, troupe co-founder -- and co-star of this production -- Craig Walter suggested as a tagline, "What could be more romantic than gazing into the bottomless void of our meaningless existence with that very special someone?"
OK, that line is funny. But so is Beckett, when you think about it, says director Scott Heberling. So is "Endgame."
A brief examination of the plot -- though some say the play doesn't really have one -- offers up four characters who are in an unknown place referred to as the shelter. We are to assume the apocalypse has arrived and there is no one else left in existence, only desolation and death outside this room. Hamm is a blind man who can no longer walk, but he's in charge of the group's food supply. He is paired with Clov, who is tired of playing to Hamm's whims and ready to leave this place -- even if it means he will die, Hamm will die and so will Nagg and Nell, the man and woman who live in separate ashcans in the shelter.
It doesn't sound like a laugh riot, but the director suggests that theatergoers think of it as a very dark "Seinfeld" episode: one female, three guys, nothing much happens.
"Really, I'm trying to capture the spirit here," Heberling said. "Beckett was a huge fan of vaudeville and comedy. He was a very funny man himself. And I so often think that he gets misrepresented simply for the darkness of his tone, you know. I would really hope that people would come and see this production and have a good time with it, and then maybe later say, 'Hey, you know what? Wow, that was pretty dark. But I had fun watching it. It was a lot of fun.'
"I'm really trying to capture that spirit in working with it, which is playing out what was his sense of humor: sometimes dark, sometimes physical, a lot of wordplay between the characters.
"What I find with a lot of the interpretations is that a lot of people just aren't looking at it right. A piece of theater needs to be done. I think if you are reading something from a literary point of view, then you're missing part of the point. You really need to see it done."
For those who choose to see it done, "Endgame" is a one-act play, more con cise than Beckett's two-act "Waiting for Godot." The author claimed that "Endgame" was his favorite work, and he once said of his two most noted works, "Whereas 'Waiting for Godot' says nothing twice, 'Endgame' only says nothing once."
"We really like the offbeat work," Heberling said of the company. "Putting on a play like this is pretty much why we started Theater Club."
Heberling's cast includes Walter, George Nelson, Jenny Jackson and Dale Sams. Tara Treiber stage manages and shares design duties.
WHAT: "Endgame," Samuel Beckett's absurdist tragicomedy, presented by Theater Club
WHEN: 8 p.m. Thursday-Saturday, also 8 pm. Feb. 21-23
WHERE: Nightingale Theater, 1416 E. Fourth St.
TICKETS: $8, may be reserved by calling 857-9154 or e-mail craig@theatreclub.org
Michael Smith, World entertainment writer, can be reached at 581-8474 or via e-mail at michael.smith@tulsaworld.com.