Have you ever woken up on the wrong side of the bed? Have you ever felt like you were just going through the motions? Have you ever wondered, What is all of this for?
These questions sit right at the heart of Samuel Beckett’s absurdist play Happy Days. Sydney Theatre Company’s production provides the answers you need, but not necessarily the ones you’d expect.
Happy Days sees our optimistic protagonist Winnie buried up to her waist (in what, we don’t know) as she goes about her day. From brushing her teeth to singing her song, and everything in between. Her husband Willie occasionally appears behind her, his back always to the audience, only ever groaning or grunting a one-word reply. The repetition of her tasks and reveals of the items from her black bag beside her elicit laughter, both genuine and uncomfortable, from the audience as they try to determine how content she is with her situation.
Happy Days premiered at the Cherry Lane Theatre in New York in September 1961. Ruth White played Winnie and won an Obie for her performance. The play then went on to London in 1962 and Ireland in 1963. Sydney Theatre Company previously produced the play in 1991 with Ruth Cracknell as Winnie. Melbourne Theatre Company put it on in May 2023.
Pamela Rabe plays the effervescent, bubbly Winnie in this production and also acts as co-director with Nick Schlieper. Their vision for the play feels removed from time and yet entirely modern. In their Directors’ Note, they share their inspiration to stage the play as a reflection of our current climate change crisis.
But, in the end, they decided against a deliberately allegorical interpretation, instead setting Winnie in a world far from our own. They put the onus on the audience to draw their own conclusions about the different problems and struggles the play tackles.
Being stuck in the ground up to one’s waist is quite restrictive. Rabe uses this to her advantage, elevating her performance by making the most of her torso movements, arms and fabulous facial expressions. Even more entrancing is her control of her voice. Her booming, beautiful voice. Each of Winnie’s crises of faith, her triumphs, her tendency to ‘speak in the old style’ come out in the most masterful articulation, enunciation and dexterity of her voice.
Markus Hamilton, who plays her husband Willie, makes his mark with his guttural responses to Winnie. Particularly enticing is his pattern of putting on his Akubra hat: on straight, on the side, then a swish and flick of his fingers across its rim. Willie’s hat, along with Winnie’s headband ‘hat’ and faded pink dress, are courtesy of creative costume designer Mel Page.
The desert whooshing and crackling that open the play and mark the transition between acts by Stefan Gregory effectively creates a foreboding atmosphere for the actors to inhabit.
Schlieper also designed the lights and set. His lighting goes from a stark, harsh white to a pulsing blue, which perfectly picks up on the bumps and ridges of the undefined earth Winnie sits in. The set, a textured black mound, flawlessly represents endless examples of the things that trap and choke us in everyday life. Or maybe, we let them trap us.
As is required in absurdism, Happy Days presents no definitive answers to the questions it poses. Rabe’s interpretation of Winnie seems to suggest that it doesn’t matter whether you wake up on the wrong side of the bed. It doesn’t matter if you are just going through the motions. It doesn’t even matter if you question whether what you do makes a difference. All that matters is you must do what you can to make each day a happy one for someone. Whether it be yourself or someone else. And that is a worthwhile challenge for us all.
Sydney Theatre Company’s Happy Days runs until 15 June at the Wharf 1 Theatre, Wharf 4/5 Walsh Bay, Sydney.
Tickets: https://www.sydneytheatre.com.au/whats-on/productions/2025/happy-days
Website: https://www.sydneytheatre.com.au/
Socials: https://www.instagram.com/sydneytheatreco/
Photo credits: Brett Boardman
