Endgame by Samuel Becket will open at the Gate Theatre next year. The production directed by Danya Taymor will star Gina Moxley, Robert Sheehan, Seán Mc Ginley and Frankie Boyle.

Endgame is conventionally considered of as Samuel Beckett’s tragically comic masterpiece. It is a one-act play featuring four characters. Originally written in French, Beckett himself translated it into English. The play was first performed in a French-language production at the Royal Court Theatre in London on 3 April 1957.

Although it is 65 years since Endgame’s original run the piece remains an urgent and strikingly relevant work. It can be considered an existentially challenging absurdist piece. This much-anticipated production will open on February 16 and run until March 26.

Danya Taymor is an American Broadway director. She is an Obie-award winning New York-based director, writer and translator. This production marks her Gate debut.

The Gate Theatre is often thought of as the home of Beckettian theatre because, in 1991, it became the first theatre in the world to present a full retrospective of the nineteen stage plays of Samuel Beckett. This piece marks a return to Beckett for a theatre dogged by financial issues since the beginning of the pandemic.

Samuel Beckett is an iconic Irish playwright who won the Nobel Prize in 1969. It is considered a high honour to be cast as many of his central characters, especially for a run at the Gate Theatre.

BAFTA Nominated Fankie Boyle is discerningly cast as Hamm. Hamm is a malicious character who controls everyone in the play while having absolutely no control over himself. Robert Sheehan, of Love/Hate infamy a will play Clov. Clov is an often comic wistful servant who is unable to sit.

The cast also includes noted Irish actors Seán McGinley and Gina Moxley as Nag and Nell respectively; two characters who have been cast aside by society and taken up residence in nearby bins.

Tickets are on sale now from €15 from The Gate Theatre

Elsewhere on District: Watch the new film celebrating Dublin’s skating community.