Venue:
Tower Theatre, Stoke Newington
Date: 16/04/2019
I will start out by saying that this play by Samuel Beckett focuses on a woman buried up to her waist in a mound of earth. She monologues her thought processes and every fleeting idea occasionally interrupted by her barely glimpsed companion. I am not as well versed in theatre as I would like so can understand how this might not sound like a good night out.
What ‘Happy Days’ in fact is, in this production at the Tower Theatre, is a funny surreal look at a woman’s life stuck in a moment that she can’t get out of. Winnie (Ruth Sullivan) is a outwardly cheery sort, atop a slate mountain with her large bag of objects and precious things that help her cope each day. Her husband, Willie (Ian Hoare), is visible only behind a paper with his straw hat and hankie but his interjections and grumbling are vital to the show.
However this is very much Ruth Sullivan’s play and her performance is absolutely knockout. She has a lovely light comic touch, bringing a real energy to the text’s rhythmic repetition. Her characters constant chatter rather than becoming annoying is given a dotty charm and sweetness. The tragedy of Winnie’s situation is allowed to slowly seep through as Sullivan flickers from joy to sadness as her superficial happiness starts to crumble.
She expresses relief at one point that she is glad she has Willie as otherwise she would just be talking to herself . In the 2nd part of the piece, as time and soil has her further stuck she muses on how time and marriage has stripped her of her attractiveness, her ability to better herself and her life. All she is left with is her thoughts and memories that grow ever bleaker. Sullivan has to use every face muscle to express the battle that rages in Winnie’s head as her dreams fade and reality in this most surreal of landscapes starts to bite hard. The set and lightning are really effective, the slow movement from dawn to dusk and the darkening colour pallete as the narrative gets bleaker
The audience:
No the Fonz isn’t in it
It made me think..
Actresses have described the part of Winnie as the equivalent of Hamlet for female actors. Ruth Sullivan is a captivating presence that drives this fine production
Teriffic and deceptive review, DFB. Makes me wish the theatre was a more accessible beast.
Theatre is easy. You book a ticket, go to the venue and the show starts and finishes on time. Much, much more simple than going to a gig and, these days, it’s often a helluva lot cheaper.
Excellent review DFB. I saw a production of this last year at the Royal Exchange with Maxine Peake as Winnie. She’s a brilliant actress but I didn’t think she pulled this one off. The Exchange is a big in the round space; I assume the Tower is more intimate, and maybe this play works better in that sort of setting.
Who played the part of The Fonz?
That sock still isn’t dry…
I was kind of hoping for a forensic exploration of the existential malaise of being Ralph Malph.
I’ve been checking when it’s next on. Sunday, Monday, apparently.
Running til Saturday with matinee performance on that day
http://www.towertheatre.org.uk/happy.htm
I saw Maxine Peake in this at the Exchange. I think the theatre critic Kenneth Tynan said of the play, on its initial release, that it’s short monologue stretched out too long. I agree: I bloody hated it!
Top review, though: it wouldn’t do if we all liked the same thing, and it’s lovely to read a theatre review on this site.
Do you like The Theatre, Hamlet?
I tend to enjoy a play within a play, if I’m honest.
yeah but do you add your own lines to it to piss off your uncle?
Only because of that “special viewing position”, you naughty man.
Yes, great to see a theatre review on the A-Dubz and also great to see a provincial theatre that isn’t afraid to put on challenging stuff (the challenge in this case being that, as a critic once said of Godot, nothing happens, twice). It’s hard to get an audience for anything that isn’t a musical or a farce, has a large cast (so everyone’s friends buy tickets) or is a searing indictment of contemporary ishoos with an Arts Council grant.
I’ve recently received the Russian translation of one of my plays. It’s called в ожидании Гамлета. I have no way of telling how accurate it is. Anyone speak Russian?
Tower Theatre put on some good stuff. Excellent production of Talk Radio recently. Now have permanent home in new venue in Stoke Newington.
I like the theatre but often it’s prohibitively expensive in London. His sort of venue n company means you can take chances on things hat you might not think you like
I think I might have seen Billie Whitelaw do this in a TV production. Yes, yes, I could look it up but where’s the fun in that?