Los Angeles Times - Highly Recommended
"...Greene, capturing the second childhood sweetness and mischievousness of Nagg, and Rae, making the most of Nell's senescent sensuality, are as touching as they are hilarious as Hamm's bottled up progenitors. "Nothing is funnier than unhappiness," Rae's Nell contends, and the truth of this sentiment is confirmed in all its risible melancholy in this majestically wrought revival."
Broadway World - Highly Recommended
"...With his 80-year career in theatre and innate understanding of the absurdist's work, Mandell has now directed Endgame at the Kirk Douglas Theatre in Culver City, starring in the production with Barry McGovern. This is the second Beckett play in which the two actors have appeared together, the first being Waiting for Godot in 2012 at the Mark Taper Forum. And their stage camaraderie is a wonder to behold."
LA Splash - Highly Recommended
"...ENDGAME is an existential conundrum, and the audience must provide the glue which holds the story together. This is a play of ideas and intellectual considerations written by an author who lived through two world wars and despaired of the populace learning anything from the experiences. This is a play where nothing happens, and yet everything happens. Brilliant acting by a talented cast well-versed in Beckett's philosophy ekes out every possible nuance while revealing nothing on the surface."
On Stage Los Angeles - Somewhat Recommended
"...In many ways, despite the tragically funny tone, the characters' existence is so utterly terrible that their "endgame" cannot come quickly enough throughout the course of the show's 80 minutes. It is almost the type of play that I would like to examine the text of, because there is seemingly much to interpret between the lines of what comes across in a staging. Many of the themes are similar to Beckett's famed Waiting for Godot. Endgame is surreal and existential, and if surreal and existential is your thing, you will likely find it fascinating. As a theatergoer, I tend to respond better to absolutes, and therefore did not feel I took a ton away from this story. However, it's also possible that was the point."
TheatreMania - Recommended
"...Hamm envisions himself as a performer playing out his final act on life's stage. Whether he's ultimately in a tragedy a comedy or some hybrid, only Beckett would know. With McGovern and Mandell at the controls, however, Endgame gives us a rich sampling of the whole existential menu."
Total Theater - Highly Recommended
"...There's no debating, though, that this production of is a memorable one, thanks largely to Mandell's expert acting and directing. If this is, indeed, his last hurrah as an actor, let's hope that he will stick around to direct more Beckett in the years to come."
Showmag - Highly Recommended
"...At 88, Alan Mandell's power to command an audience has not diminished in the least. We are lucky that he continues to grace our local stages with memorable performances in recent productions like The Price and No Man's Land. We are doubly fortunate that he both directs and plays Hamm in this production with an authority that comes from having worked directly with Beckett."
Observations Along the Road - Recommended
"...In general, the story focuses on the larger issue of dependency, and the dispair that dependency can bring to us. Hamm is dependent on Clov. Clov on Hamm (he has the keys to the larder). Nagg on Hamm. And so far. As we are dependent for longer, we become handicapped by our dependency, and it traps us. The term "Endgame" refers to the chess position where the final set of moves are dictated and cannot be changed. Our dependency traps us into an endgame. How do we escape? Nell makes that clear: she escapes by dying, after she refuses to be dependent on Nagg. At the end, has Clov refused enough to escape? We never find out."
Santa Monica Daily Press - Highly Recommended
"...If you're seeking a master class in how to do Beckett the way he would have wanted it, you won't do better than this production of "Endgame.""
Theatre Notes - Highly Recommended
"...This production of Endgame is a pinnacle achievement. The cast is utterly extraordinary. Between the four of them, they have nearly 250 years of performance experience at the highest level. Mr. Mandell (who also directs) toured with the original productions of Waiting for Godot and Endgame directed by Samuel Becket himself. James Greene made his Broadway debut in 1951. Charlotte Rae also made her Broadway debut in 1951 and played Mrs. Peachum in the famed production of The Threepenny Opera with Lotte Lenya. And Mr. McGovern appeared opposite Mr. Mandel in CTG's 2012 production of Waiting for Godot. I don't hope to see better."
Guardian Liberty Voice - Highly Recommended
"...The actors are all great in their roles, but Beckett's Endgame, with its dismal, yet funny take on life and its end, is not for everyone. As one character said, "Nothing is funnier than unhappiness," but nothing is sadder too. The play sends the audience out shaking their heads at the absurdity and thinking about their own day-to-day existence before their endgame, which might have been Beckett's intent."
That Awesome Theatre Blog - Highly Recommended
"...Filling the emptiness that accompanies the mundaneness of everyday life is a recurring theme throughout the work of Samuel Beckett. He creates cold, isolated landscapes and then populates them with characters who are usually incapable of escaping the dreary and awful world around them. Endgame, playing now at the Kirk Douglas Theatre, is a classic example of Beckett at his very best."