synopsis:

The setting for 'Endgame' is a bare, partially underground room, serving as shelter for the four characters: Hamm the master, Clov his servant, and Hamm's father and mother, Nagg and Nell (who live in garbage cans). Hamm is in a wheelchair and makes Clov move him around the room, fetch objects, and look out the window for signs of life. Outside all seems dead and nothing happens. Inside, the characters pass the time mortifying each other and toying with fears and illusions of a possible change, all along sensing the inevitability of their end.

on this book:

'Endgame' was written by Beckett in 1957 and translated by himself in English in 1958. There are several differences between the French original and the English translation. The play falls into the category of Theater of the Absurd. It has been critiqued as a play where nothing happens once, as opposed to Waiting for Godot, a play where nothing happens twice. The one major difference between these two plays is that in 'Endgame' the sense of despair is heightened by the fact that the characters are not waiting for anything (other than death, which is is pronounced in both plays).

When Beckett sent the manuscript of 'Endgame' to Alan Schneider, he wrote in a letter that 'Endgame' is "Rather difficult and elliptic, mostly depending on the power of the text to claw." The play is known to have been Beckett's favorite play and its condensed format likely contributed to his favoring it over Waiting for Godot.