After studying the contrasting comments below, consider your verdict on the success of translating 'Endgame' from stage to screen.

A.
In part of his review of Beckett on Film for The Irish Times, 27January 2001, Fintan O'Toole wrote:

'The real question that needs to be asked about the new Beckett films…is not whether they follow the author's instructions in every detail but whether the deviations are justified by the beauty, power and strangeness of the images …One of the best of them, Conor McPherson's "Endgame", has an immense performance from Michael Gambon as Hamm and a fine one from David Thewlis as Clov. With its simple interior set and the relative realism of the action, the play demands no big leaps of style or content in order to become an intense, gripping screen drama. What is gained is simply what cinema itself makes possible - the precision of the close-up, the ability to change the perspective of the viewer so that it seems at times to be that of one of the actors. McPherson's good taste and talent for understatement makes a great deal of these extra dimensions, while sticking very closely to Beckett's original.'

B.
Nicholas Kelly, writing for RTE Online, 27 April 2001 argued that 'Endgame' is not a feature film and that in the screen production:

'There's only so much a director can achieve with camera angles when confronted with a single location and a script that cannot be deviated from by a word … ["Endgame" feels] like static, academic exercises, lacking the vitality and spark of a live performance. Much of the humour also appears lost: Conor McPherson's "Endgame" is convincing in its dramatisation of life in an agonising world where the human race has been virtually reduced to "zero", but the production lacks the grim hilarity that made the play such a powerful experience in the first place.'

Activity 2
Key moments

The images below present opportunities for exploration and discussion of key moments in 'Endgame'.
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Activity 3
The Theatre of the Absurd

Research what is meant by the description- 'theatre of the absurd,' and consider whether 'Endgame' can be classed as an 'absurdist' play.

www.britannica.com/seo/t/theatre-of-the-absurd/
www.education.eth.net/enrich/art/absurd_theatre.htm