"Endgame" by Samuel Beckett - Rick Cluchey as Hamm

[iBlake]

I think this should only be filmed head-on from the front. Shooting it from an angle gives it an almost undesired movement or artistic pulse I feel the play doesn't have. There's something more powerful about the static, stagnate setting of the play that isn't captured here.

As an exercise in acting, however, I think this clip is useful in learning how actors are approaching this role.

[HammandClov]

I disagree. The angle contributes to the indecisiveness of Hamm and the inability for the play to end, though it does. Also, given how bitter Hamm is, Hamm could've been shot in a dark room, or had his back to the audience b/c of it. His position is not facing the audience directly which hints more at how he feels internally. I see your point, but the play could not be more stagnating than if it had no words. It builds up, falls, and starts over much like Waiting for Godot.

[cfortnerXYZ]

@HammandClov WELL, you've got it precisely. it's like sean hannity talking to thomas jefferson, talking to otto von bismark, talking to ghandi, talking to me talking to you only because there's nobody less interesting to talk to

[Kurkgrand]

@iBlake

An appropriate and relevant observation with which I agree.

[mechroboticon]

I want to see a picture of Beckett smiling.

[fishintree]

do u know what year this is from?

[noremacttocshotmail]

i'm performing this exact monologue for my drama exam

[gatoulis25]

AMAZING

WE LOVE BECKETT

!!!!!!

[nothingUneed2no]

"actor-y"

[mechroboticon]

agreed.

[bosherrz]

Im doing a project on Absurd Theatre in my Drama class and we are looking at alot of Beckett Plays and i think we are doing a scene from this! IM EXCITED!

[YesdniL23]

what other directors have you studies in your absurd theatre class??

[bbsirup]

The greatest play of the past century!

[aerugo49]

i just listened to the whole production on the site. my quicktime won't get the video, but it didn't matter, i saw the whole thing one time. it works well as a radio play. people could discuss the tragedy/humour for quite some time. the absurd is the most complex mode of expression. the hilarity and senselessness really open some wounds for me but it feels cathartic at the same time. Beckett's humanity is really moving. it's my favourite play of all time.

[dinnerbucket9]

There are ten thousand ways to get this wrong and it is likely that I am more inclined to see the comic than the tragic or at least to see the comic through a carnival lens that upends the usual notions re the primacy of the tragic. This is LEAR with fewer players and the backdrop of the prospect of global annihilation.

[HammandClov]

Perhaps, but what playwright hasn't been influenced by Shakespeare? Amazing how simple this play seems yet how complex it is for u to "get it wrong" I see the comic view of it only in that their lives are SO meangingless that they began to laugh about it insanely. Hamm can't stand -Clov can't sit. They hate each other but depend on each other. But they have the basics - life, friendship, and an world end's paradise. It is funny when u see how little they have yet how much we need is there.

[mungbean4u]

I started here and, for the past half hour, I leapt from website to website and (how coincidental) came full-circle back to this video. In that 1/2 hour I read about San Quentin's theater productions and the work that Richard Cluchey is doing. Awesome... I feel like I've been on an adventure.

[HammandClov]

I wish this was on dvd.

[thespisteatro]

Excelente video.