the history of the characters is made clear, it seemed strange to deduce or invent

any specific ailments that could be played to account for the constraints.

Again what made sense was to think of ENDGAME as a play unto itself not

as a depiction of a situation other than the play. The rules of the play are that

Hamm cannot stand and Clov cannot sit. No external or extra-textual justifications

are needed. We did not need to convince an audience that Jay Smith couldn't stand

up or that Rachel Murdy couldn't sit down. This allowed for a certain amount of

freedom in clearing up some of the problems presented.

For example, if Clov can't sit down how are actions such as picking up things

like the dog and the glass to be accomplished? However if the restraint is a

theatrical restraint that Clov simply cannot sit then Rachel is free to come up with a

wider vocabulary in accomplishing the various tasks.

The process of rehearsal included three major components:

1. Viewpoints exercises. The entire cast was familiar with the principals of

the viewpoints and they became an important part of the work. All the way through

performance, each session was begun with a ten to twenty minute open viewpoint

session.³⁴From the beginning we found that the use of sound, be it text or other

sounds was an important part of these sessions. This work was critical in creating a

sensitivity in the actors to each other's rhythms.

2. Scene work. This was the bulk of the work. Focusing on particular sections,

and working through with attention to detail and a great deal ofrepetition.

3. Run-throughs. I felt strongly that the more full runs we did of the play the

better off we would be. As early as we were able to, we began doing full runs. By the

time we reached two weeks before tech we were able to do a run almost every day.

What we quickly learned from this was the amount of stamina needed for