Review: Samuel Beckett's ENDGAME at the Washington Stage Guild

Now through February 19, the Washington Stage Guild presents Samuel Beckett's eerie and philosophical single-act tragicomedy, Endgame, directed by Alan Wade. Set in a post-apocalyptic world, the earth around them flooded, Endgame's characters are trapped-by the desolation outside, their physical impairments, and their fraught co-dependent relationships. This talented quartet of actors-Bill Largess, Matty Griffiths, David Bryan Jackson, and Rosemary Regan-captivate the audience as they depict their characters' simultaneous deep yearning for an end to their suffering and reluctance to pursue a future without one another.

The set, designed by Joseph B. Musumeci Jr., presents a bare, monochromatic gray room. The walls are made of thick slabs of gray stone, as seen where the dingy wallpaper has peeled away. Two small windows placed high on the far wall provide dim light for the room's occupants: the demanding Hamm (Bill Largess) and his trash bin-bound parents Nagg (David Bryan Jackson) and Nell (Rosemary Regan), who are all tended to by the obedient Clov (Matty Griffiths).

The play opens on Clov, who staggers into the room and begins what appear to be his daily chores. He draws back the curtains of the two windows, removes the bed sheet that covers the trash bins in which Nagg and Nell reside, and removes the sheet that covers a sleeping Hamm, who sits in an armchair secured to a rolling pallet. "Finished," he then says. "It's finished, nearly finished, it must be nearly finished. Grain upon grain, one by one, and one day, suddenly, there's a heap, a little heap, the impossible heap."

As this very first line suggests, Endgame's central preoccupation rests on the cyclical, often tedious nature of existence. Its characters are fatigued-by the predictable inanity of their daily existence, by the physical impairments that keep them reliant on one another, by their loneliness and nostalgia, and by the barren, unchanging landscape outside. The same conversations are had day after day, hour after hour, as they all complete the same tasks and air the same grievances. The characters, caught between life and death, constantly wrestle with their desire for each alternative.

If this sounds bleak, well, it is. But in Endgame, as it muses on the repetitive and lonely nature of existence, the absurdity of its characters and the situation in which they exist often elicit laughs. And each actor brings wonderful tenderness to what are otherwise disagreeable, abrasive protagonists, faithfully presenting the many layers to Becketts' characters. They are often cruel to one another, yes, but they also care for one another, as seen in the way Bryan-Jackson-as-Nagg says, "Do you not want your biscuit?" to Regan's Nell, and the way Largess-as-Hamm repeats "good" as he realizes the degree of his solitude, and the way Griffiths-as-Clov gazes at the room and the people he's tended to for years before finally leaving once and for all.

Stirring and darkly funny, the Washington Stage Guild's production of Endgame is well-suited to fans of Beckett and absurdist theater, as well as those who don't need a traditional plot-heavy narrative to enjoy what is a fascinating show.

ENDGAME is onstage at the Washington Stage Guild's Undercroft Theatre through February 19, 2023. Run time is approximately 90 minutes, no intermission. Purchase tickets here.

Main photo credit: DJ Corey Photography