INTERVIEW: Sold-out ‘Endgame’ ends with livestream option
Photo: Endgame stars Patrice Johnson Chevannes and Joe Grifasi. Photo courtesy of Carol Rosegg / Provided by official site.
Leave it to the Irish Repertory Theatre in Manhattan to offer a few welcome curveballs to their programming. This is the vaunted off-Broadway company that has redeveloped a brand-new space with two state-of-the-art theaters, taken audiences on many literary journeys into the heart of Irish theater, and even hosted a James Joyce-inspired dinner-and-show production of The Dead.
Now the Irish Rep is offering a second chance to audience members who were unable to snag a ticket to their extended revival of Endgame by Samuel Beckett. This weekend, from Friday, April 14 to Sunday, April 16, patrons can livestream the final four performances of the well-received production, which is directed by Ciarán O’Reilly and stars Bill Irwin, John Douglas Thompson, Joe Grifasi and Patrice Johnson Chevannes.
To celebrate the end of Endgame, Hollywood Soapbox exchanged emails with Grifasi and Johnson Chevannes. The two accomplished actors play Nagg and Nell, the parents of the central character, Hamm (Thompson). They are described as aging, legless parents to Hamm, and the three of them — along with the servant, Clov (Irwin) — are waiting for the inevitable end. To what? Why? How? Well, this is Beckett after all.
Questions and answers have been slightly edited for style.
What attracted you to join this production of Endgame?
GRIFASI: A chance to work at the Irish Rep with this exciting company and to explore further the role of Nagg, which I played once before.
JOHNSON CHEVANNES: John Douglas Thompson and Ciarán O’Reilly are the biggest reasons why I’m doing Endgame! I was not a Beckett expert at all. John called me and said he and Bill were going to do Endgame at the Irish Rep, and he wanted me to play his mother. I said, ‘John?! How’s that gonna work?!’ John and I are really good friends, so all I did was laugh. It kinda meant no. John said, ‘It’s Endgame; it will work! Ciarán’s gonna reach out to you! Read the play!’ Then Ciarán reached out to me! I had worked with Ciarán before at the Irish Rep on a beautiful play called Banished Children of Eve. He said, John and Bill and he had settled on a window to do Endgame, and John said, ‘I should be his mother!’ Again I laughed! Ciarán said, once John said it, he couldn’t see any other person in the role. I said, ‘Great. That’s amazing, but how is it gonna work?!’ Ciarán said, ‘It’s Beckett Endgame! It will work. I’m going to send the script!’ I read it, and I laughed! I was not clear on a lot of things, but Nell made me laugh. They had to really convince me! I am sooo glad they did!
What do you find interesting / challenging about Beckett’s word choice?
GRIFASI: There is no fat on the spoken words, and the silences are often words in themselves.
JOHNSON CHEVANNES: Endgame is very poetic in its brevity and very full in its images. Sometimes the writer allows longer monologues. The writing in Endgame is very human, and humans are complex. Because it doesn’t appear linear, it truly reflects how humans think and express themselves. Beckett reflects how embedded trauma manifests in the psyche and the human heart and sometimes comes out in a nonlinear way in conversation. He circles and circles a thing, different characters repeat certain phrases, and after a while you realize we have been talking about some deep trauma that the soul is trying to wrangle with so it can move on past a thing or not! That’s Beckett. His work is quite muscular for an actor!
Does the minimalism of the work make it easier or tougher to interpret these characters?
GRIFASI: For me, it’s much easier because I’m happy working the terrain in between the lines.
JOHNSON CHEVANNES: The minimalism is grounded in a world, a mindset, a philosophy, a human point of view, relationships and what people need. It didn’t come out of nothing, so you gotta go in search of the world, the relationship and the need. I interpreted Nell in the context of the play as a whole, the backstory of this family that we came up with based on the play, and the given relationship and lines and current circumstances that Nell and Nagg and Clov and Hamm currently find themselves in.
What’s it like to perform in garbage cans?
GRIFASI: Only half of me is performing, but I’m getting paid for the rest!
JOHNSON CHEVANNES: The garbage cans! This was our biggest challenge to figure out for Nell and Nagg. It was a given that we wouldn’t stay in them for the show. So next, how would we get in them and not have injuries? Ciarán went in search of the biggest container he could find to house human bodies, and we worked from there. I won’t give away secrets, but we had to figure out how much of our bodies would be seen! We also knew they had to be very close but not close enough to kiss. From there we began to play! Our entire bodies as actors have to be alive; the audience just get to see shoulders up!
Do you ever have personal thoughts about where the world is headed? Are they in line with any of Beckett’s findings?
GRIFASI: Oh sure. “My dear sir, look at the world, and look at my trousers!” It’s not a pretty picture, but it can still be funny.
JOHNSON CHEVANNES: Beckett introduces Nell with such joy and desire! Audience members have said to me, ‘This is what a world can look like when we remove Love’. I think that’s a lesson.
What’s it like to work with the Irish Rep?
GRIFASI: Nobody’s getting rich, but smiles are everywhere. That’s as good as it gets in this town.
JOHNSON CHEVANNES: I love working at the Irish Rep. I love Ciarán and [artistic director and co-founder] Charlotte [Moore] and everyone! Every day I come to work, there is love, joy, care, respect and laughter. This ensemble, this show, this company, they are the best!
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
Endgame, featuring Joe Grifasi and Patrice Johnson Chevannes, continues through Sunday, April 16. The final four performances are available to be live-streamed. Click here for more information and tickets.
