Samuel Beckett's Endgame and Hungarian Opening Gambits

The focus of this book is twofold: first, Samuel Beckett's Endgame, its
genesis and post-publication development, and second, the reception of his
dramas in Hungary. There are, of course, overlaps between the two topics, for
example, György Kurtág's Fin de partie opera, István Paál's first stage
direction of Endgame in Hungary, or Gábor Zsámbéki's TV-recording of the play,
which preceded the stage premiere. However, the real bonding agent of the book
is the dramaturgy and theatricality of Beckett's work, whether it be
unpublished manuscript fragment, full length play or Beckett-staging in scope.
This book intends to present Beckett-productions that were the first in one
way or another, either the most productive Hungarian-language Beckett-
director's oeuvre, a Hungarian premiere, the first Godot-staging after 1989,
the first Beckett shows in a theatre's entire programme since its foundation,
or the very first Fin de partie opera. All of these involved a certain amount
of risk taking, just as one would expect from opening gambits in a game of
chess. This is the first time that a selection of Hungarian Endgames and other
Beckett-stagings has entered the international platform of Beckett
scholarship, to engage in a broader dialogue with artists, scholars, and
students around the globe. ANITA RÁKÓCZY is dramaturge, theatre critic, and
Lecturer at Károli Gáspár University of The Reformed Church in Hungary. She
has conducted research on Samuel Beckett's Fin de partie at CUNY Graduate
Centre New York as a Fulbright Scholar, and also in the University of
Reading's Samuel Beckett Collection. She has worked for the Hungarian Theatre
Museum and Institute and the International Theatre Institute (ITI) Hungarian
Centre. She has published in Samuel Beckett Today / Aujourd'hui and the
Journal of Beckett Studies. With Mariko Hori Tanaka and Nicholas Johnson, she
co-edited Influencing Beckett / Beckett Influencing (Collection Károli –
L'Harmattan, 2020).