Black Swan Presents the Absurdist Classic ENDGAME

Four characters locked up in a refuge. Is it the end? Much is at stake. The relationship between Hamm, the blind and cantankerous master unable to stand, and Clov, his long suffering servant son who cannot sit, is beginning to strain. Nagg and Nell, Hamm's decrepit parents living in garbage cans, are not helping matters. They too seem stuck between light and dark, life and death. Ruminating on past deeds and actions that, at their core, are meaningless.

This tragicomedy reveals the constant duel between tyranny and submission and the need and desire to break free of the cycle. Confusion reigns - is it the beginning of the end or the end of the beginning? Beckett (awarded the 1969 Nobel Prize in Literature) considered this his favourite play, even over Waiting for Godot. As the chess game reference implies, Endgame is about how or why one bothers to move at all, when all moves lead to death. Endgame began Beckett's association with Theatre of the Absurd, which influenced later playwrights such as Harold Pinter and Tom Stoppard.

BLACK SWAN welcomes the return of Founding Artistic Director Andrew Ross, director of numerous landmark WA productions such as Tourmaline, Bran Nue Dae, Merry-Go-Round in the Sea and Corrugation Road to direct this rarely seen and engaging piece of absurd theatre.

Ross says "Endgame is more like a piece of minimalist chamber music than a play. A composition that requires the very best players. That is why I am extremely pleased to work with the four most esteemed actors that I could imagine, Geoff Kelso, Kelton Pell, Caroline McKenzie and George Shevtsov. They have all worked together over decades and are attuned to each other's rhythms like a fine string quartet."

DIRECTOR: Andrew Ross

CAST: Geoff Kelso, Caroline McKenzie, Kelton Pell and George Shevtsov

LIGHTING DESIGNER: Mark Howett, SET & COSTUME DESIGNER: Tyler Hill

SUITABILITY: Adult Themes 13 + Book at ticketek.com.au