Richard Briers is to return to the London stage this autumn, starring alongside Adrian Scarborough and Miriam Margolyes in Complicité’s new production of Samuel Beckett’s Endgame. The veteran actor has announced it will be his final stage performance.
The show will run at the Duchess theatre from 18 September to 5 December (press night 24 September).
Briers is to play the old, blind Hamm in Beckett’s play, opposite Scarborough as his servant Clov with whom he shares a mutually dependant relationship. The pair, who have only Hamm’s parents for company, are condemned to a daily routine, completely separated from the outside world.
Written by Beckett in 1957, Endgame was last brought to the London stage in 2004, when Michael Gambon took the role of Hamm opposite Lee Evans, Liz Smith and Geoffrey Hutchings.
A star of both stage and screen, Briers was last seen on the London stage when he appeared in the 2002 production of Bedroom Farce. Though he has worked extensively in the theatre, he is probably best known for his work on television shows including The Good Life, Ever Decreasing Circles and Monarch Of The Glen. Briers previously enjoyed success with Complicité when working on the company’s 1997 production of The Chairs, which ran at the Duke of York’s theatre and transferred to Broadway.
Speaking about the new production, 75-year-old Briers said: “I saw Endgame 50 years ago with George Devine in the role of Hamm, and said to my wife that this was a role I wanted to play – she pointed out that I was perhaps a little young for it at the time! I now feel the time has come to have a crack at it, in what will be my last role on the stage, and I couldn’t be in better company.”
A regular at the National Theatre, where he has appeared in shows including Time And The Conways, Once In A Lifetime and The Mandate, Scarborough’s stage career has also taken him to the Donmar Warehouse and Almeida theatre. Scarborough will play Clov until 23 October, when he will be replaced in the role by performer and Complicité founder Simon McBurney, who also directs.
McBurney commented: “To travel into Beckett’s language is a tempting prospect, for which you need the best travelling companions. I can think of no better than Briers.”
Margolyes’s last London performance came in the magical musical Wicked, for which she originated the role of Madame Morrible in London. A versatile performer who has graced stages worldwide, she is probably most easily recognisable from her screen roles in Blackadder, Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets and Ladies In Lavender.
Touring company Complicité was founded in 1983 and has since built a reputation for pushing boundaries with its innovative theatrical ideas. In 2008 its production of A Disappearing Number won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Play.
Endgame producer Nica Burns admitted she was excited to be working with the ground-breaking company: “It is an honour to be working with Complicité. Simon McBurney directing Beckett’s Endgame with an outstanding cast in this perfect, intimate theatre. What a combination!”
Endgame opens at the Duchess theatre following the summer run of Ronald Harwood plays Collaboration and Taking Sides, and the children’s show We’re Going On A Bear Hunt.
MA