Richard Briers Returns To Stage In ENDGAME

Richard Briers returns to the London stage as Hamm in Simon McBurney's new production of Beckett's 1957 masterpiece Endgame for 80 performances only. The production opens at the Duchess Theatre on 24 September, with previews from 18 September, and runs until 5 December.

Richard Briers and Simon McBurney continue their collaboration following the critically acclaimed 1997 Complicité production of The Chairs which was part of the Royal Court season at the Duke of York's before transferring to Broadway. Briers will be joined by Adrian Scarborough as Clov - fulfilling their ambition to work together on this project for many years. Scarborough will play Clov from 18 September to 23 October, and McBurney will play the role for the remainder of the run. The company also includes Miriam Margolyes as Nell - the role of Nagg will be announced shortly.

"I saw Endgame 50 years ago with George Devine in the role of Hamm, and said to my wife that this was a role I wanted to play - she pointed out that I was perhaps a little young for it at the time! I now feel the time has come to have a crack at it, in what will be my last role on the stage, and I couldn't be in better company," Richard Briers said.

Simon McBurney commented, "Endgame. To travel into Beckett's language is a tempting prospect, for which you need the best travelling companions. I can think of no better than Briers."

"It is an honour to be working with Complicité. Simon McBurney directing Beckett's Endgame with an outstanding cast in this perfect, intimate theatre. What a combination!" said Nica Burns.

In Beckett's one-act play, the aged and blind Hamm and his servant Clov co-exist in a mutually dependent and fractious relationship, with only Hamm's parents, Nell and Nagg, legless from a biking accident, for company. They are condemned to a daily routine sealed off from the void outside.

It was Beckett's second play, and premiered in 1957 at the Royal Court in French as Fin de partie. He later translated the work into English and it was published in 1958.

Samuel Beckett (1906 - 1989) was an Irish writer, dramatist and poet. He wrote in both English and French, and his principal works include Krapp's Last Tape, Happy Days and Waiting for Godot. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1969.

Veteran star of the stage and screen, Richard Briers returns to the London stage where he last appeared in the 2002 production of Bedroom Farce. His other theatre work includes The Tempest (national tour), A Christmas Carol (Lyric Hammersmith) and extensive work for Kenneth Branagh's Renaissance Theatre Company including Coriolanus, Uncle Vanya, A Midsummer Night's Dream and Twelfth Night. Briers is perhaps best known for his television work, including the classic comedy series The Good Life and Ever Decreasing Circles, as well as roles in Torchwood, Kingdom, Monarch of the Glen, Dad and Victoria and Albert. For film, his work includes Scoop, As You Like It, Peter Pan, Unconditional Love, Hamlet, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, Much Ado About Nothing, Peter's Friends, Henry V and A Chorus of Disapproval.

Adrian Scarborough's many theatre credits at the National include Time and the Conways, Once in a Lifetime, Henry IV Part I & II, The Mandate and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead. His other theatre work includes Accidental Death of an Anarchist and To the Green Fields Beyond (Donmar Warehouse) and Platonov, The Tempest and Vassa (Almeida Theatre). For television, his work includes Gavin and Stacey, Cranford, Psychoville, Poppy Shakespeare, The Trial of Tony Blair, The Passion and A Dance to the Music of Time; and for film, Notes on a Scandal, The History Boys, Vera Drake, Dirty Pretty Things, Gosford Park and The Madness of George III.

Miriam Margolyes plays Nell. Her most recent stage credits include Wicked - she originated the role of Madame Morrible in the London production, before going on to play the role on Broadway. Her other theatre work includes The Importance of Being Earnest (Bath Theatre Royal & US tour), The Killing of Sister George and Dickens' Women (both West End), Blithe Spirit (Melbourne Theatre Company) and Cloud Nine (Joint Stock/Royal Court). As well as her famed cameos in the Blackadder series, her television work includes Inconceivable, Wallis & Edward and Fall of the House of Windsor; and for film, How to Lose Friends and Alienate People, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Ladies in Lavender, Being Julia, Baz Luhrmann's Romeo + Juliet and James & the Giant Peach.

Actor, writer, director and co-founder of Complicité, Simon McBurney has written, directed and acted in more than 30 productions for the company, most recently Shun-kin, A Disappearing Number, Measure for Measure, A Minute Too Late, The Elephant Vanishes, Pet Shop Boys meet Eisenstein (Trafalgar Square) and Strange Poetry (with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra in the Walt Disney Concert Hall). Other directing credits include All My Sons (with John Lithgow, Diane Wiest, Patrick Wilson and Katie Holmes on Broadway) and The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui (with Al Pacino in New York). As an actor he performs extensively in feature films including Body of Lies, The Duchess, The Last King of Scotland, Friends With Money, The Golden Compass and the forthcoming Boogie Woogie, Hippie Hippie Shake, Ridley Scott's Robin Hood and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. He is the recipient of the 2008 Berlin Academy of Arts Konrad Wolf Prize for outstanding multi-disciplinary artists.

Designs are by Tim Hatley, with costumes by Christina Cunningham, and sound by Christopher Shutt.

 

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