Endgame
4 September – 4 October
Award-winning actor, director and writer Douglas Hodge and acclaimed film and television actor Clive Francis join the previously announced Mathew Horne and Selina Cadell in Samuel Beckett’s macabre comedy.
In a bare room, Hamm, an old, blind tyrant is locked in a stalemate with his servant Clov. Interrupted by the nostalgic musings of Hamm’s ancient, dustbin-dwelling parents, Hamm and Clov do their best to ignore the older pair, and cling stubbornly to their comic routine of casual savagery and mutual dependence.
Douglas Hodge plays Hamm. His extensive television credits include Black Mirror, Catastrophe, The Night Manager and Hulu’s critically acclaimed The Great. On the big screen, he starred as Alfred in Todd Phillips’s Academy Award-nominated Joker. An accomplished stage performer, he was nominated for an Olivier Award for his performance in The Caretaker and won the Olivier Award for his performance in La Cage Aux Follies in the West End. He was Associate Director at the Donmar Theatre and has directed many shows on Broadway and in the West End. He also wrote the music and lyrics for 101 Dalmatians The Musical, which has just finished a tour of Britain and Ireland and opens in London this summer.
Mathew Horne, who plays Clov, is best known for his portrayal of Gavin in the beloved Gavin and Stacey. Further television credits include Dad’s Army, Agatha Raisin, Worried About The Boy, Chekhov: Comedy Shorts, Catherine Tate’s Nan and Bad Education (BBC Three). Recent theatre credits include: The Lover/The Collection, Noises Off, The Homecoming, Rain Man, The Miser, The Pride and Charley’s Aunt.
Clive Francis’s (Nagg) stellar career has spanned more than six decades on stage, radio, TV and film, from Stanley Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange to The Crown and Bridgerton. On stage he has numerous credits with the National Theatre, RSC and in the West End, and for more than 20 years has toured the world with his one-man adaptation of A Christmas Carol. A successful caricaturist, illustrator and playwright, Clive has adapted Our Man in Havana, The Hound of the Baskervilles, Three Men in a Boat, Thark, The Small Handand Alice the Musical for the stage.
Selina Cadell (Nell) is currently starring in the West End transfer of the Ustinov’s highly acclaimed The Deep Blue Sea, opposite Tamsin Greig. Her extensive screen career includes roles in much-loved series including Doc Martin, Upstairs Downstairs, Spooks, As Time Goes By and films including The Madness of King George, The Lady in the Van and Nativity.
Widely recognised as one of the most important writers of the 20th century, Samuel Beckett’s plays, novels and poetry are regarded as the pinnacle of black comedy and tragicomic life.
Director Lindsay Posner, one of the UK’s most sought after directors, returns to the Ustinov Studio fresh from the West End transfers of Noises Off, A View From The Bridge and The Deep Blue Sea.
“Beckett’s signature dark comedy” The Stage
“Beckett’s bleakly brilliant classic” The Times
“A magnificent theatrical experience” London Times
