Tony winner Alan Cumming and Daniel Radcliffe star in Samuel Beckett’s Endgame, which opened February 4 at The Old Vic. The play is part of a double-bill, along with Beckett’s short work Rough for Theatre II.
Directed by Richard Jones (The Hairy Ape), Endgame is set in a bare room, where an old, blind tyrant named Hamm, played by Cumming (Cabaret, Daddy), is locked in a stalemate with his servant Clov, played by Radcliffe (Lifespan of a Fact, Equus). Interrupted only by the nostalgic musings of Hamm’s ancient, dustbin-dwelling parents, this double act cling stubbornly to their routine of casual savagery and mutual dependence.
Rounding out the ensemble are Jane Horrocks (Cabaret, The Rise and Fall of Little Voice) and Karl Johnson (Noises Off, Girl From the North Country), with Suzy King, Jackson Milner, and David Tarkenter as understudies.
Rough for Theatre II follows two men as they discuss the fate of another man in the room, who never speaks. The play is performed by Cumming, Radcliffe, and Milner.
The production also has sets and costumes by Stuart Laing, lighting by Adam Silverman, sound design by Fergus O’Hare, movement by Sarah Fahie, and casting by Jessica Ronane. The sound consultant is David Sawer, and the assistant director is Danielle Baker-Charles.