Considering its brief run, from the 21st to the 24th of June, I was delighted to have been able to catch Happy Days in the 3Olympia. Not only to see a Beckett play live, but also to see Siobhán McSweeney in the demanding lead role. Directed by Caitríona McLaughlin, this production was first put on for two live-streamed shows in early 2021 and this summer it ran in Cork, Dublin and Birmingham. I’ve seen acts such as Denzel Curry performing in the Olympia and it’s an impressive venue for being able to transform itself to accommodate everything from sweaty rap shows to a rather intimate evening of drama with Happy Days.
Approaching and performing a notable play written in 1960 by Samuel Beckett which has been performed many times, and even has a filmed adaptation made of it, has its hurdles to face. Exhibiting this same spectacle again on the stage brings with it the thought of balancing what has been done with what could be done. In the case of this play, only so much can be done to vary its different productions when the premise is that of a woman partially submerged in sand and monologuing for the vast majority of the run-time. It would be ill-advised, it is safe to say, to reinvent the wheel. A good version of a tried and tested (and successful) 63 year old play needs only to exercise its right to stand out in subtle ways. The actor’s performance would seem the main means by which to validate a new Happy Days production, considering how stripped-back and “uneventful” the plot is. While this is true, there are the other elements that maintain, and even re-jig, the Happy Days wheel. When the curtains came back, it was clear that this production was well in-tune with the requirements and challenges of the play itself, and the nature of this play as an older and iconic play by a well-known playwright.
A good version of a tried and tested (and successful) 63 year old play needs only to exercise its right to stand out in subtle ways.
The set design was in keeping with those before it, though deviating from the grassier environment described in the playbook itself: a sandy, barren landscape with clear, almost hypnotic blue skies behind it, and very strong midday-sun-level lighting driving down on Winnie, played by Siobhán McSweeney. The realistic sky, the lighting, and the mound that held Winnie were all particularly reminiscent of the on-location style of the filmed version of the play, starring Rosaleen Linehan as Winnie. The changes in the set design for the present production were as subtle and positive as would be hoped. There were divisions made in the landscape on either side of the stage like entrances to non-existent wings. With sand piling high in each and the blue of the sky and the earthy tones of the sand lending each other a kind of purity and strength, the scenery would remind any Tame Impala fan of the cover of The Slow Rush. It was as if we were witnessing a section of some unearthly desert which could have made for a beautiful ambient gallery-viewing in and of itself. The sound design was implemented very gently, yet unignorably, raising tense and unnerving sounds at key moments that gave the perfect foundations for the writing, and performance thereof, to fly high and hit home.
That aside, the drama itself. Seeing Siobhán McSweeney perform what is effectively a one-person show has been one of the greatest pleasures of my theatre-going life so far. With a razor-sharp sense of pacing, humour, and darkness, McSweeney gives Winnie so much depth in her funnier moments, and absolute heartbreak in her quieter ones. Howard Teale, as Winnie’s husband, Willie, provides a secure and subdued counterpoint for Winnie’s monologues throughout, his physical performance towards the end of the play bringing such relative action and uncanny intrigue. Siobhán McSweeney achieved what is most difficult and most crucial in avoiding and ascending the red-tape reality of Happy Days and its legacy. McSweeney made me forget it all. Sitting in the Olympia on that night, within milliseconds I could only see Winnie. I could only hope and despair and listen quietly as Winnie spoke and spoke and spoke. I couldn’t be sure if the wheels would fall off and she would explode, or if Winnie would persevere (as of course she would). McSweeney gave me the honour of living in 1960, buying a ticket and sitting down to witness a play come into the world for the very first time.
Seeing Siobhán McSweeney perform what is effectively a one-person show has been one of the greatest pleasures of my theatre-going life so far.
This production was a triumph, from its performances, to its direction by Caitríona McLaughlin, to its set design. This successful production of Happy Days gave a fresh, and very much active, heartbeat to what is already a well-regarded and established play.
WORDS: Cormac Nugent
