In these two early plays he takes the conventional all the world’s a stage idea to an audaciously literal extreme

In these two early plays, he takes the conventional “all the world’s a stage” idea to an audaciously literal extreme. It’s as if there’s nothing but the stage and the wings and the auditorium in the world he presents. “End of the corridor on the left,” is Estragon’s peculiar-sounding direction when Vladimir leaves “the country road” for a pee. At one point in Endgame, Clov picks up a telescope, trains it on the stalls, and says ironically: “I see.. a multitude.. in transports.. of joy. I was a bit afraid of meeting Gambon, who has a reputation for disliking interviews and questions about the acting process.

I’d been told that he hates intellectuals (“wankers”), comes down heavily on any hint of bullshit, and that his main interests are flying planes, restoring antique guns and sex. I began to feel that it would make about as much sense to send Jeremy Clarkson to interview Alan Bennett about the car as penis substitute as to dispatch me on this particular mission.But I should have attended to another entry in Eyre’s diaries. Nick Roeg, planning a film about Samson and Delilah, apparently laughed that Gambon was “perfectly cast” as King of the Philistines, to which Eyre adds: “Mike’s cover is very good; he’s actually very sensitive, highly musical, plays the classical guitar and loves ballet.” It’s clear that Gambon is very fond of Evans and that he takes an unobtrusively protective interest in the younger man as he prepares to make his straight acting debut in such a daunting piece. Offstage, with Evans in tow as benign sidekick, the great actor seems to have lowered his guard.Having cast Gambon as Hamm, Warchus says that for Clov he wanted “the modern equivalent of those silent-movie stars whom Beckett admired, like Chaplin and Buster Keaton, and Lee Evans is at the top of that list”. As Clov effortfully hobbles around the stage at the tyrant’s bidding and performs such “running” gags as having to limp back repeatedly for his forgotten ladder, he is the only mobile character in the play. It’s a role that can only benefit from expertise in physical comedy.Evans thinks that his personality suits the part, too. “I think it is quite appropriate for myself, being quite a subservient character towards, if you like, the Establishment.

I’ve always bounced well off someone who is a more dominant figure.” We’ve seen this in Mouse Hunt, where he was a sort of Laurel to Nathan Lane’s Hardy, and we will see it again in the autumn when he forms a double act with Richard Dreyfus in the West End transfer of the hit Broadway musical of The Producers “Meeting Mel Brooks was like talking to a drum kit. He talks in rhythm – it’s like ‘Ba-ba-da, ba-ba-daaa, whoossssh’.” Evans himself used to play the drums, a training that now comes in handy because “Endgame is like a musical as well, with all those pauses and different rhythms”.According to temperament, the problem of playing Clov is either compounded or eased by the fact that his master (who may be his father, too) is blind. Consider how the mix of cock-eyed Irishness and potential profundity in this – “Do you feel like singing?” said Camier. That play is anticipated in the antics and inconsequential crosstalk of the eponymous couple in Mercier and Camier, a comic novel which he completed in French in 1946 but suppressed until 1970.

The predicament of the earlier pair is an inversion of that suffered by Vladimir and Estragon: instead of futile waiting, there’s a futile quest that only twice manages * * to take the infirm, physically contrasted heroes out of town.There are distinct foreshadowings there of exchanges found in Endgame. “His [Evans'] character,” Gambon says, “is based on the fact that he can’t be seen It gives him the freedom to do what he does. In rehearsals, I never look at him.” Evans quickly puts in: “This is the first time you’ve ever seen me, isn’t it, Michael?”How does it feel, though, to be on stage unable to make direct eye-contact with your co-star? “Well, look at me,” Evans says: “It’s nice not to have somebody looking at you. You know those wobbly mirrors at the fair? When I look in them, I look normal.” Gambon says: “Yeah, they help you, don’t they?” He then goes on to draw a surprising analogy with movie-making. Once when he was being filmed in a reverse shot, the actress behind the camera turned her back to him.