Casting Endgame and some other nonsense

And a big thank you to Mr U-En for that little bit of insight into Beckett. Yeah, Pinter and Beckett were buddies. If memory serves, while I was reading up on Pinter during The Homecoming, I found out that they used to send each other their works in progress and give each other notes. Apparently, there was one play that Pinter sent to Beckett. The play had already been finished and I think was about to go into rehearsal. Anyway, Harry and Sam were gabbing on the phone when Harry asked Sam.....

Harry : So, what you think of that play I sent you?
Sam : Its alright, its alright.....but...
Harry : But what?
Sam : Well, there's this one speech......it just doesn't work for me.
Harry : It doesn't work for you?
Sam : It doesn't work for me.
Harry : What do you mean, it doesn't work for you?
Sam : I mean it doesn't work.
Harry : Well, I don't have to listen to you.
Sam : That's right. You don't.
Harry : So....so, maybe I won't.
Sam : Then don't.
Harry : I won't.
Sam : Fine.
Harry : Fine

* This conversation actually took place, although as you might have guessed I'm totally making up some extra bits because.....well, because I feel like it. Natch.

Anyway, Sam gave Harry his two cents worth and that was that. Then a couple of weeks into rehearsal, Harry called up the director of the production and said....

Harry : How's everything coming?
Director : Everything's coming along fine....except....
Harry : Except what?
Director : Well, there's this one speech.....
Harry : Dump it.
Director : What?
Harry : Dump it. Get rid of it.

And that, as they say, was that. True story. Pinter never mentioned which play it was and the speech was never seen or heard by an audience. I don't know about you guys but I've been really curious about which play it was. But anyway, our man Sam hit the nail right on old Harry's head so rest assured....we're in good hands. Oh yeah, quick change of topic - we had our photo shoot for the Endgame poster and postcard last night and I gotta say, this is going to be a kick ass poster. Jia-wei (who is back at set designer and yes, will be talking to you guys about that) took some pictures of the shoot which should be posted up here within the day.

So...yeah, I was gonna talk about the cast. U'En's already given himself an adequate introduction so I shan't waste too much time on him. I wasn't thinking of casting U-En initially, not because I didn't feel he could do the role justice or anything like that, quite the contrary actually, but because I always start out with the intention of working with a fresh cast. I didn't want to re-use anyone from the Double Bill or The Homecoming. But what can I say? When someone's right for a role, there's no point being an asshole about it, so I bit the bullet and brought U-En onboard. He was the first actor to be cast, not in Endgame but 4:48 Psychosis. We were at a seedy bar, drinking beers, talking about the more important things in life like how Marvel better not fuck up the Silver Surfer movie.

Me : Hey fucker.
U-En : Ah.
Me : You busy in August?

Drunk U-En shakes head.

Me : So you're free in August?

Drunk U-En nods head.

Me : Okay, cool. Wanna do another play?

Drunk U-En nods head.

Me : Its about depression and suicide.

Drunk U-En smiles.

To make a long story short, as you know 4:48 got shelved, and Endgame became a priority. It just so happened, (whether the gods were involved, who knows) that Endgame also had a role that U-En was perfect for, Hamm the master, so we were off and running.

Alvin Wong is an actor that I've wanted to do a play with for a long time now. We've done some TV work together but nothing in theatre. Everytime I ask the guy to do theatre, he say he not free, too busy whoring himself out to Astro. FYI, if you don't know who Alvin Wong is, aside from his notable work in TV shows like 'each other', 'Table for Two' and (get this) 'Homecoming' (the chinese drama), he's also the guy from the Astro ad.....y'know the one with the guy sitting between his mom and girlfriend and he's all upset cos the chicks are hogging the remote? Well, that's him. As an actor, I've always found his work impressive. He has the ability to play both larger than life as well as subtle, which is a skill not all actors have. Whether he's playing comedy or drama, he always plays for the truth. And in my mind, I just knew that he and U-En would be a great combo, a salt and pepper combo any mental patient could love. I got the two of them together for a reading (at a bar of course) and the chemistry was just there. We talked a little about scheduling (because with Alvin, you always gotta fucking talk about scheduling) and in the end, I basically told him I wasn't going to take no for an answer so he didn't bother trying. Two days later, Alvin was in. We had our Clov, Hamm's servant.

For the roles of Nagg and Nell, Hamm's parents, I had decided very early on that I wanted to cast the parents younger than the children. The main reason for this was because when I read the play, I couldn't help but feel that that's how they were treated and in many ways, how they talked and behaved. So I thought 'Fuck it, why not.' It'll probably piss off a couple of purists but so what? U-En put it best one night when he said "Beckett would call you a pussy if you followed it to a tee." And I was like "Fuckin'A right bro!"

Kelvin Wong first came to my attention a couple of years ago when he reviewed 'Wish I Was There', a play I had written, for Kakiseni. I remember this because we met a short while after and talked about the review a little. He told why he wrote what he wrote and blah blah blah and then I didn't see him again until he was, along with The Oral Stage (a ensemble theatre group Kelvin put together along with other like-minded students) getting ready to stage 'Rojak!' After that, he came to see The Homecoming, we talked a little after that and after The Homecoming closed, I went to see Rojak! and chatted with him again. I told Kelvin what I thought of the show,so no need to get into that here. He didn't act in Rojak!(he co-directed with Patricia Low) but Faridah mentioned to me that she had seen him act and that she thought I should consider auditioning him. I did and found my Nagg.

Last but not least, Sharifah Amani, who is playing Nell. Watching Kelvin and Nani as Nagg and Nell last night......if we do our jobs right, their relationship should melt and break a lot of hearts. They both bring a sense of innocence to the roles in such a way that you can't help but feel for them. I'm gonna have a lot of fun with this cast. I think. Nani really only needed one thing to be casted and that was she needed to be available, and she was, so there. There were a couple of other young atresses that I was considering but Nani just felt right. She's just an amazingly gifted actress. I loved her performance in 'Sepet'. It made the film for me. She brings so much honesty and truth to the roles she plays and I needed someone like that to play Nell. Also, I had great fun throwing her about as Hamlet and wanted to abuse her somemore so this was perfect.:)

That's all for now. Should have some pics up before the day is out.

Peace.