Dec 19, 2009

Endgame | Style

Words and Stage Directions
Endgame’s visual performance and self-reflexive dialogue constantly remind the audience that they are watching a performance by actors. Hamm broods: ‘‘All kinds of fantasies! That I’m being watched!’’ This tells the audience that they are part of the structure of the play, just as words, physical movement, lighting, whistles, dogs, ladders, windows, and silence play their roles. Beckett uses stage directions to create dynamic relationships between characters and the things they require to live: Hamm needs his armchair, and Nagg...