eckett's modus operandi in destroying the illusion of the traditional theater.
What Lyons is getting at is the fact that Hamm and Clov have many nuances of role-playing. Because this is so, it is hard from the audience's standpoint to know exactly how these two men are connected, since it is difficult to know if specific references in their dialogue relate to their basic relationship or to the structure of the games they share. This is the fine line that Beckett treads throughout his play. Most drama aesthetes would agree that theater has to involve the viewer with some level of character. Beckett wants Hamm and Clov to represent and be symbolic of a certain artistic "death," yet he has to bring this viewpoint off with characters that have a degree of reality. This is the leap of faith that Beckett asks the viewer to take when he experiences "Endgame." If the principle that theatrical art has reached an "endgame" is granted, then the characters of Hamm and Clov have to be taken on a different plane, i.e., they have to be allowed their function as "types" in Beckett's statement.
This is made apparent when Hamm says to Clov in the first act that "I've made you suffer too much" (Beckett 6). This is Beckett speaking to the audience through Hamm. The playwright is involved in a scheme with this play that states to his viewers that they must "suffer" by being deprived of the typical responses in the theater if they are to break on through to a new form of dramatic experience. Beckett is not unlike jazz musicians such as John Coltrane and Ornette Coleman: he plays the tune that he hears in his head, and if those in his audience are not interested in his "tune," then he just asks that they don't bump their behinds on the door on their way out. Beckett does not see his function as a playwright to "please" and "flatter" those who watch his work. He wants to be a stimulating point of departure for them. Beckett is dealing with t...