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• Steppenwolf’s "Endgame" is a remarkable absurdist’s view on life

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(left to right) Ensemble members William Petersen and Ian Barford in Steppenwolf Theatre Company’s production of Endgame by Samuel Beckett, directed by ensemble member Frank Galati. (Michael Brosilow.)

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End game: the stage of a game of chess, usually following exchange of queens and reduction of forces (esp. having the kings and pawns remaining). Webster’s College Dictionary

The Steppenwolf Theatre’s first spring show is director Frank Galati’s new production of Samuel Beckett’s 1957 absurdist comedy classic "Endgame". It is a remarkably sparse staging that smartly focuses squarely on the meaning of the spoken words and the performances. Like Beckett’s other classic, Waiting for Godot, here the daily absurdity of life is the focus as characters try to make what little sense there is of life in what possible is their final stages of life.

Four of the Steppenwolf’s finest ensemble members comprise the cast of this one act tale: former CSI’s William Petersen is Hamm, the blind main character who is confined to a large wooden arm chair that’s placed on an elevated palate on wheels; Ian Barford, is Clov, his loyal assistant, and Martha Lavey and Francis Guinan are Nell and Nagg, Hamm’s parents.

Set in a large dungeon like room of 40 foot walls with only two small curtained windows some eight feet off the ground the play’s minimal narrative consists of mostly Hamm and Clov’s banter about the meaning of existence with a rather cynical philosophical bend. Joann White’s gray bland set design is an appropriate accent to the play’s nihilistic tone. Extending the chess metaphor, Hamm is the nearly immobile king, Clov, (who can never sit down), is the pawn and the sometime present parents are the castles. Petersen and Barford are alternately funny and riveting as they exchange typical comments like: “We’re not beginning to mean something.” Or, “What for Christ’s sake does it matter?” for which Hamm replies “Let it end, with a big bang of darkness.”

This always engaging production of "Endgame" continues it run at Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theatre at 1650 N. Halsted St. until June 6.