The Spectator: This Edinburgh Fringe comedian is headed for stardom
After Endgame is a confessional monologue by Kevin James Doyle, a New York chess grandmaster who gives private lessons to children. To interest the kids, he uses fairy tales and folk myths – but his secret weapon is incompetence: ‘I let the children win.’ This ploy guarantees his popularity as a tutor. Kevin is contacted by a billionaire from Singapore who praises his ability to teach complex abstract systems through the medium of folk stories. Together they set out to formalise Kevin’s methods and to turn them into a lucrative business. Kevin seems set to make a fortune but his journey to Singapore immerses him in a genuine game of survival involving strategy, cunning and false moves – just like chess. And he doesn’t realise what’s going on until it’s too late. This is a riveting and hilarious hour of storytelling about self-deception and the art of gamesmanship. Not just a chess lesson. A life lesson.
