Passing their days in a bare room, the nearly blind, chair-bound tyrant Hamm and his dutiful but resentful and hard of hearing servant Clov exist in a constant see-saw of pathos and hatred, love and hope. 

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While the battling conversation between master and servant intensifies, Hamm’s parents, Nell and Nagg toy with nostalgia. Symbolic of the the enthusiasms of youth and how the young can disregard the needs of the old, even as the old reminisce about their youthful enthusiasms.

 

In this mix of dark comedic wordplay and macabre insight, Beckett’s mastery is evident – absurdity in the face of meaninglessness, sorrow in the face of futility, humour in the face of mortality. 

 

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