Ladies Games is a creation based on Samuel Beckett's Endgame and the musical universe of Estonian composer Arvo Pärt. The play brings to the stage Emma and Clara, two elderly women in seclusion who suffer from the scarcity of food, medicine, dreams, and ideals in a post-apocalyptic world. Trapped within the confines of a house, these two ladies care for each other, reminiscing about the past and the lives they once had beyond those walls. Ladies Games is an essay on loneliness, old age, and the human condition in the face of the finitude of the body, the world, and life. It explores the fear of death and the death of dreams.
The project began with research by actors Stéphane Brodt and Gustavo Damasceno on the female characters in Shakespeare’s Richard III, focusing on the study of two aging queens. In a later stage, this research expanded into other contexts, eventually leading them to Beckett's universe, where the actors deepened their exploration of aging and mortality, drawing inspiration from their own mothers. Beckett's world was thus reshaped through this approach, and Endgame evolved into Ladies Games.
The play premiered in Rio de Janeiro and was nominated for the Cesgranrio Theater Awards for Best Lighting and Best Set Design, as well as the Botequim Cultural Award for Best Script.
"Throughout life, the same questions, the same answers, the same banalities. Why this farce, day after day?"
Text: Stéphane Brodt (inspired by Endgame by Samuel Beckett)
Cast: Gustavo Damasceno and Stéphane Brodt
Direction: Ana Teixeira and Stéphane Brodt
Assistant Director: Julia Limp
Lighting Design: Renato Machado
Music: Arvo Pärt
Sound Editing: Gabriel Petit
Set and Costume Design: Stéphane Brodt
Set Technician: Beto de Almeida
Executive Production: Gabriel Garcia
Production Management: Amok Teatro and Sonia Dantas