Monday, August 2, 2010

Least-favourite version of Beckett's Endgame

It was a difficult decision for the judges to choose this hotly-contested title, with literally pairs of candidates coming before the panel. Special mentions must go out to (1) Andrew Lloyd Webber for managing to re-imagine Beckett's mordant vision of paralysis and deterioration as a West End musical (with extra kitschness points for inserting an extraneous sub-plot borrowed from Orpheus in the Underworld); and (2) the St. Petersburg State Dance Corps, for performing it as a ballet, on ice.

In the end, though, after a frank and open exchange of views chaired by Evangaline Van Holsteren keeping order with the help of a fire hose, the panel were able to settle on David Lynch's version.
As you see, Lynch moved the bare, partly-underground interior specified by Beckett's script to the Red Lodge. He has cast Michael J. Anderson in the role of Hamm's servant Clov, while three quite dissimilar actors take turns as the wheelchair-bound figure of Hamm himself, though their difference does not really show up since in this production Hamm is never seen directly but only as a grotesque shadow cast on the wall. Nagg and Nell have been re-named "Fig V" and "Fig VI" for no apparent reason.

I don't remember any mutant exploding walrus or bathtubs full of brightly-painted machine tools from the other productions I've seen.

UPDATE: Bonus Belgian production.
The judges were forced to disqualify this one from competition for its clumsy attempt to sneak into the earlier suet-sculpture thread.

7 comments:

ifthethunderdontgetya™³²®© said...

Kircher was the most famous "decipherer" of hieroglyphs of his day, although most of his assumptions and "translations" in this field have since been disproved as nonsensical.
...One modern scholar, Alan Cutler, described Kircher as "a giant among seventeenth-century scholars", and "one of the last thinkers who could rightfully claim all knowledge as his domain".


The d00d got points for trying.
~

Hamish Mack said...

All praise to the winner and the brave actors in the blocks of concrete. Read the contract, next time. As a side note I think that the "orbs" in the photo would count as the worst special effects evah, what were they thinking?

Unknown said...

Has anyone seen my bobbypin? (Lynch). Those are floating bobbypins are they not?

futab, my new derision word.

lawnguylander said...

Despite the crazy scene he has walked in on pointy hat dude is very interested in his own shadow. Like he's never seen it before. On second glance it does seem to be disintegrating so maybe that makes sense.

mikey said...

Man, phew! You're seeing all SORTS of stuff I'm not. Impressive interpretation, I must say.

Tellya the truth, it just looks like any other avant garde nouveau riche Beverly Hills home foyer. The teenage kid has ADHD, he finished off all the pecans and put the serving dish on his head, slipped the bong into the sleeves of his hoodie and is sneaking out past his mom's weird "art" to get high with his friends. All that other stuff? I think it must be in a different woodcut...

Hamish Mack said...

The update looks like a Belgian Chocolates selection where they couldn't be arsed making the white chocolate into a head."What the fuck, people just eat them anyway"

zombie rotten mcdonald said...

looks like Transformations, that were too hard to find.