Irish Rep to Live Stream Final Performances of ENDGAME

Irish Repertory Theatre will partner with The League of Live Stream Theater to simulcast the final four performances of Endgame by Samuel Beckett. The simulcast performances will be Friday April 14 at 8PM; Saturday April 15 at 2PM; Saturday April 15 at 7PM; and Sunday April 16 at 3PM. Tickets to the simulcast performances will be $59 and are available at irishrep.org/livestream.

Directed by Ciarán O'Reilly, Endgame stars Tony Award winner Bill Irwin (On Beckett), John Douglas Thompson (The Emperor Jones), Joe Grifasi (Dinner at Eight) and Patrice Johnson Chevannes (runboyrun/In Old Age). Endgame began previews January 25, 2023, on the Francis J. Greenburger Mainstage and opened February 2, 2023. Originally set to close on March 12, Endgame was recently extended for a second and final time through April 16, 2023.

Endgame, Nobel Prize-winning playwright Samuel Beckett's (1906-1989) favorite play, is a tragicomedy of epic proportions. Written in a macabre intensity of mood, it represents the playwright's fierce declaration of oblivion in a world populated with its last survivors. The play, about the end of everything, moves inexorably to its own conclusion, with its own humor bursting out of the bounds of Beckett's dark account of the Earth's last whimper.

Endgame tells the story of Hamm (John Douglas Thompson), who is reduced to living in one room, in which he sits, blind and chair bound. His only escape from his solitary world is the company of his aging, legless parents (Joe Grifasi and Patrice Johnson Chevannes), who live in garbage bins, and his shuffling servant, Clov (Bill Irwin), who is at his beck and call, and who, like a dog, comes when whistled for. The only thing left for Hamm is to wait for the inevitable end.

A pinnacle of Beckett's characteristic raw minimalism, Endgame is a pure and devastating distillation of the human essence in the face of approaching death. "Nothing is funnier than unhappiness" invokes Nell, which summarizes the tragicomic nature of this timeless play.

The play premiered at The Royal Court Theatre in London in 1957 in French as Fin de Partie. The first English language production took place at the Cherry Lane Theater in New York in 1958. Irish Rep first presented an acclaimed production of Endgame, directed by Charlotte Moore, in 2005.

Endgame features set design by Charlie Corcoran (The Butcher Boy), costume design by Orla Long (The Butcher Boy), lighting design by Michael Gottlieb (A Touch of the Poet), sound design by M. Florian Staab (The Butcher Boy), and properties by Deirdre Brennan (The Dead, 1904). Jeff Davolt (Autumn Royal) serves as Production Stage Manager with Giselle Andrea Raphaela as Assistant Stage Manager.

The performance schedule is as follows: Wednesdays at 2pm & 7pm; Thursdays at 7pm; Fridays at 8pm; Saturdays at 2pm & 7pm; Sundays at 3pm.

Tickets to live, in-person performances of Endgame begin at $45 and are available at IrishRep.org. $25 tickets are available to patrons under 40 years of age via Irish Rep's GreenSeats membership.

IRISH REPERTORY THEATRE

IRISH REPERTORY THEATRE, co-founded by Producing Director Ciarán O'Reilly and Artistic Director Charlotte Moore, is now in its 33rd season after first opening its doors in September 1988 with Sean O'Casey's The Plough and the Stars. Irish Rep is currently the only year-round theatre company in New York City devoted to bringing Irish and Irish American works to the stage. Recognized with the Jujamcyn Theatres Award, a special Drama Desk Award for "Excellence in Presenting Distinguished Irish Drama," an Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Achievement, and the Lucille Lortel Award for "Outstanding Body of Work," Irish Rep celebrates the very best in Irish theatre, from the masters to the new generation of Irish and Irish American writers who are transforming the stage. Nearly 50,000 audience members annually attend productions at Irish Rep's theatre located in the heart of New York's Off-Broadway community. Once here, they witness Irish Rep's engaging perspective on the Irish and their unique contributions to the world of drama.

LEAGUE OF LIVE STREAM THEATER

The League of Live Stream Theater (LOLST), a new nonprofit founded in 2022, provides the production, technical, financial, and marketing solutions to bring nonprofit theater to a global audience, via live stream. Founders Jim Augustine and Oren Michels, veterans in the theater and technology industries, have a vision to make Broadway and regional theater more accessible than ever before, driving new audiences to new works, increasing awareness for world-class stages and artists, and helping these nonprofit institutions to thrive for another generation. Founding support for The League of Live Stream Theater has been provided by Bloomberg Philanthropies and the Sherrill Family Foundation. To learn more, visit lolst.org.

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