(Post 1 – Roshelle’s Group)
In Endgame by Samuel Beckett, one of the themes that was very clearly outlined during the staged reading was the isolation experienced by Hamm and Clov. When reading the play, I did not necessarily feel the isolation they experienced, in part because I assumed that an ongoing dialogue between two people could not really result in a sense of isolation. The staged reading made the isolation they experienced in their “universe” far more tangible to the viewer. In the reading of the play itself, Clov expresses that “there is no more nature”, however it was not until the staged reading of the play that the weight of that realization fully resonated with me. Additionally, the staged reading allowed me to break up the characters into groups based on their spacing, whereas I had not previously imagined Nagg and Nell to occupy a small corner of the room together, their interdependence actually made the spacing used during the staged reading all the more effective.