Reviews

Endgame is named for the situation in chess, when you know how the game will end, but need to continue playing until the game ends. This show is about futility and has a sense of loss and despair, making it not the happiest or most uplifting play.

The Freiburg Baroque Orchestra (Freiburger Barockorchester) returned for a second concert featuring celebrated piano virtuoso Kristian Bezuidenhout who teamed up with the sparkling soprano Siobhan Stagg. Together with the orchestra they created an electric and vibrant atmosphere recreating the elegant tones of the 18th century.

The first thing you notice is the wallpaper. It says ‘1930s America’ most of the time, but in the middle there’s a giant portrait of a handsome man that has started to peel from the wall and, in a remarkable effect, collect in a large puddle on the floor. It’s part of a brilliant set design by Grace Deacon that includes a large outside fire escape and a tiny all-glass toy set, the menagerie of Tennessee Williams’ title. 

In this weird and twisted little queer-safe story, two sisters live in a cold and rotting house in 1800s Yorkshire, in total, complete and utter isolation. Oh, except for an indeterminant number of servant (one? Two? Three?), an indeterminant number of brothers (none? One? One, but dead?) and one morose and despairing mastiff. Obviously, they don’t really count. Then one day, new meat arrives in the form of one hapless governess and one very sweet anthropomorphic moorhen.