Preview: EUTC in Endgame

Such is the description Samuel Beckett gives of the four characters in his 1957 play Endgame.

At the Bedlam next week, the Edinburgh University Theatre Company present their take on the work.

Like Beckett’s other works, Endgame is celebrated for its abstract settings and characters, all taken from reality yet still holding on to specific aspects of the mundane.

Written in the Theatre of the Absurd style, EUTC producer Tamsyn Lonsdale-Smith says  of Endgame: “The magic of  his script is not in plot  development so much, as it is in the rise and fall of character relations. What’s more, the very nature of its abstraction calls for varied interpretations of the script.”

The characters are victims of their situation, yet the origin of their current condition is never revealed. We enter their lives at a critical moment, the  beginning of the end of a long and torturous existence.

“There is Hamm, confined to an armchair on casters since he has lost the use of his legs. His face covered by a bloodied handkerchief his sight also lost. Yet still he lives, as does his subordinate companion, Clov. Hamm is dependent on Clov, whose legs are still working yet he cannot sit.

“Nagg and Nell reveal themselves from their dustbins to reminisce over times long past, and complain about the sawdust in their meagre shelters. Neither can see clearly, and Nell’s hearing is failing. Nagg is still fond of his wife, although Nell has become weary and distant.”

Thought-provoking, Beckett toys playfully with monologues in such a way to invite the  audience to explore the  deepest and most bizarre  crevices of our their minds.

“Nothing is funnier than  unhappiness, I grant you that,” as Beckett wrote.

Endgame, Bedlam Theatre, Bristo Place, March 22-26, 7.30pm, £6.50, 0131-629 0430