My paper: The Endgame Concept

I just thought some might want to view my concept of Beckett's Endgame. I hope that you pay more attention to the idea rather than my poor writing skills. The idea I That I have in mind is that should not be taken as an attempt to defame the author in any way shape or form. I fear that my personal feelings about the beckett estate may overshadow the way in which you view this paper.

Beckett that might have been:
Or could be.
By: Jared White
I had initially not intended to have such a negative reaction to the story of the Becket estate. But I guess I was just a little too incensed at the idea of a theatre wasting it money because its show was not allowed to open. This sort of thing just sounds like the system bringing itself down on the poor hardworking theatre folks. Where some might see Samuel Beckett as some kind of visionary, this Beckett Estate thing only makes me think of him as an old man with control problems from beyond the grave. I mean think about it, he’s dead, what more could he get out of having his performances done the exact same way for the next 100 years. If he were alive and had to endure watching or hearing about some terrible production of Waiting for Godot, then I would be somewhat sympathetic. I would feel for him because he would be seeing his work butchered. But he’s dead what purpose does it serve to go on in this fashion? In preparation of this paper I came across over 10 separate instance of the Beckett Estate challenging or shutting down a production which they felt sullied the vision of the man. And that was just my first Google search I didn’t even dig that deep. What the hell are these lawyers doing to his reputation?
With this in mind I have sought to find a way to present an interpreted form of Endgame that would still make the author proud. However, given how strict he was with his works while he was alive I doubt I will achieve this. But my idea is to alter as little dialogue as possible. What will have to be altered is stage direction and interpretation of lines, this is where the Estate would get me. I will outline specific actions set pieces and inflected lines that will add a subversive ‘tilt’ to the show. In this way one could watch our production and see Beckett’s original work in its entirety but another could watch it and get the statement we are attempting to make.
The wonderful thing about theatre is that it is the ultimate propaganda tool. There are many things wrong with the world. Things that we just can’t pick up a gun and fix. (Not that that’s a good solution in any case) Words however have an effect and meaning that reach beyond bullets. The idea that I wish to rail upon in this production is that of corporate servitude. We are all children of consumer culture and as a result don’t see the control that the rich and the powerful have over us. We have been raised on our nice things and are content with Nike and Starbucks.
Take a look in the mirror and ask yourself how many wide spread brand name items you have on your person. Apple, Nike, Levi, Wal-Mart, Toshiba Starbucks, Jeep. Do we need these things to survive? You might say, yes.
Why? Mostly because you have never known a life without them. We work at dead end jobs making money that we automatically throw away on items that have little value to us except that it makes us happy to have them and makes our life a little easier. We work and work not realizing our servitude to the corporations of America that take our money that we have worked so hard for. When does it stop? We are in the middle of an economic crisis right now. Nobody has any money to spend on Christmas presents but we’re doing it any way. Things are getting more and more expensive by the day. Yet we continue to dig ourselves deeper.
It is under this idea that I have constructed the “Revolution Theatre’s production of Endgame. We set out to produce theatre that will incite change. (Thus the name) Throughout the play I have set aside moments (some of which I will lay out for you) where Clov is given payment in some form. The idea is that by the end of the play he will want to leave Hamm. Or at least in the audience mind he will want to leave.
Beginning on about page 2 (depending on your script), we start with “Me to-Play” (Same blocking as in the script, but with different references and subtle movements on each line) On the line “My father” and “My Mother” he will ‘look’ (obviously he is still blind but he knows where everything always is) toward the trash can referencing his father and mother so that we get the idea once Nagg and Nell emerge from their respective hidey-holes. My- Dog obviously refers to his dog which is off in the kitchen with his other lapdog Clov. So we will make an appropriate look toward the where the kitchen exit will be downstage. When Clov re-enters once Hamm has called him he will staple a piece of refuse to the set. (See new set design later in the paper) He will then carry on in the usual fashion dictated by the script. The only difference will be on lines such as “I’ll give you one biscuit per day” Hamm will produce a wad of cash and hand it Clov. Later in the play when Hamm hands Clov payment Clov will take the wad of cash separate it and staple to the wall during the successive lines. I also want the lines referring to the bicycle to be established as a withholding relationship. The idea behind capitalism is that you have to earn your living. Rather than having a right to your living by mere existence. Things such as food, shelter, clothing etc must be purchased when they should be allowed to all by the mere fact of being human. The right to food, the right to shelter, and the right to things that we work for when we might be given them.
The idea throughout this scene is to have Clov establish a subservient relationship with Hamm. Hamm already treats Clov like a dog and so the idea is that Clov is naturally disposed toward serving him. When the audience asks themselves why the obviously self capable Clov continues to serve the abusive Hamm, line like “I don’t know the combination to the cupboard” explain it. It’s a matter of material. Food, money, shelter that is being held over Clovs head. Adding the blocking of Hamm giving Clov money throughout the play only underlines capitalist servitude idea that I am attempting to establish.
The next scene I would love to elaborate on really excites me. Several weeks ago we were talking in class about design ideas and the idea of making Nagg and Nell Muppets popped into my head. They both seem so Oscar the Grouch to me, living in those trash cans. The look for Nagg and Nell will look very much like Statler and Waldorf the two old hecklers from the Muppet show. The two puppets will live in the trash cans when not in use. Underneath the trash cans will be two puppeteers that will enter the trash cans from two trap doors underneath. This will allow for
I don’t have any different interpretation of this scene other than to say that the banter and dialogue between Nagg and Nell already lends itself to the Muppets. As both Muppets will need to be able to grasp things it is essential that they are Muppets and not puppets.
At the beginning of the play my actor Gary Brice, who plays Clov, will be very chipper (well as chipper as can be) in his duties. But as the play progresses, the abuses he receives at the hand of Hamm (Will Salmons) will begin to tear him down so that the audience and Clov himself will wonder why he stays.
Clov: I’ll leave you
Hamm: No!
Clov: What’s there to keep me here?
Earlier even Hamm asks why he stays.
Hamm: I’ll give you one biscuit per day. One and a half. Why do you stay with me?
This is the payment I was referring to earlier.
Clov: Why do you keep me here?
Hamm: There’s no one else
Clov: There’s nowhere else
This is a dependency that the working class has on the elite.
Hamm: You’re leaving me all the same.
Clov: I’m trying.
This says I want to leave, and I’m trying.
Hamm: You don’t love me.
Clov: No.
Hamm: I’ve made you suffer too much. Haven’t I?
Clov: It’s not that.
Not a denial of oppression, and more of a confirmation.
This is the idea that I’m talking about throughout the entirety of the piece. It’s not so much an omission of dialogue or rewriting it’s an interpretation of already existing dialogue. In this case it will be up to the actors to interpret the lines in this way. It would take about two weeks of table work in order to iron out the idea that I am seeking with this piece.
The set and costumes will also need to be slightly altered to fit my idea with this in mind I have chosen the idea of old brand name labels being pasted all over the set. It will resemble the idea built in Wall-E. A world gone bust on the consumption of all resources at the hand of the corporate world. Our little thrust stage will not allow for the traditional proscenium method of staging.
We will have to set the stage in a different configuration. We will have three flat set away from each other toward the back of the stage. One in the foreground and two in the back on either side of the one in the foreground. For the purposes, of my paper I’ll call the one in the foreground Flat A. The flat in the back ground on stage left we’ll call Flat B and the one on stage right we’ll call Flat C. Flat B and Flat C will overlap Flat A from behind stage center. Flat B and Flat C will meet the proscenium walls on their respective sides. This allows an upstage exit on either side of Flat A between Flats B and C.
All three flats are covered in brand name boxes, newspapers, magazines etc. Anything that says corporate America gone bust. The idea is that Clov has been having a heyday bringing old pieces refuse in and pinning it to the set. The idea is that the set is held together by bits of trash from the now defunct corporate world.
Set up and above over the audience on the downstage left and right sides are two windows which Clov gets the ladder to look through. (This will make his laugh when he looks out especially funny as it will seem as though he is looking at out at the audience and laughing)
I am conflicted on Hamm’s costume. I see one of two things, both ideas are very similar. But with the change of one detail it makes everything I am saying about him different. Hamm’s costume is designed to look like a business man. I am, however, torn between his suit looking like it has been dragged through the mud or completely spotless. I want the feel that he is the personification of a paralyzed yet still powerful corporate tycoon. But I feel to drag him through the mud would make him seem broken. I do not feel that Hamm is entirely broken. I see a business suit, black, with a white shirt and tie. I see his outfit representing fat white America. But the idea that it has not been cleaned in some lends it’s self to the rest of my interpretation.
I had the fun idea of dressing Clov in what you might call “comrade” garb. I imagine him in very simple attire. The idea is that Hamm has not given him much to work with in terms of clothing. So he has had to make do with what he’s been given. He, however, has taken very good care of what he has so it’s nearly spotless. Also imagine him to have developed a neat freak habit after cleaning up after Hamm, Nagg and Nell for so long.
I don’t by any stretch of the imagination feel that this is too far off the beaten path in terms of what Beckett was writing though obviously other will. It is not my intention to shame or deface a work of art such as Endgame. It is only my intention to show the possibilities that might be achieved by thinking outside the box. When we consider the reputation that the Beckett lawyers are making with their continual litigation. Who will want to perform a Beckett play in the next 20 years for fear of being sued? Countless authors have stringent rules placed on their works for fear of being plagiarized and defamed. They have every right to protect their intellectual property. But plays are something quite different. They are works of fiction that are portrayed in a different medium after having been placed on the stage.
If Samuel Beckett is content to have his plays remain on a shelf unperformed for fear of them being performed incorrectly then he shouldn’t have allowed them to be produced at all. Theatre is about risks and Endgame as it is doesn’t take risks anymore. That is why I imagine things this way.