Happy Days

HAPPY DAYS, by Samuel Beckett. Conceived and Directed by Nick Schlieper & Pamela Rabe

Stage and screen star Pamela Rabe (The Children, The War of The Roses, The Lost Echo) utterly transforms herself into one of the great icons of modernist theatre, Happy Days’ eternal optimist, Winnie.

Conceived and directed by award-winning theatre designer Nick Schlieper – Lighting Designer on The Picture of Dorian Gray, Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and Dracula – and Rabe herself, this production of Beckett’s classic play is a unique creative offering and a "hypnotic" (The Conversation) theatrical experience. 

Somewhere in a dreamlike wasteland, Winnie is buried up to her waist in a mound of earth. The sun beats down on her, relentlessly. She is unable to see her husband Willie (a man of few words), played Markus Hamilton (Sweat, Fences), whom she chatters to and prompts for affection and approval. Undaunted, she continues to celebrate each happy day. 

Written in the poetic and distilled style that crowned Beckett the greatest dramatist of his day, Happy Days is a play about the power of the human spirit when faced with impossible circumstances.

In the hands of two legends of Australian theatre-making, this new production will plumb the original depths of Beckett’s script while exploring the play’s haunting and inspiring contemporary resonances. 

Happy Days is a standout moment for theatre lovers and fans of Rabe’s incredible prowess which "presents a Winnie who’s intriguing, grotesque, funny, occasionally trying, almost coarse and memorably unique” (The Sydney Morning Herald). 

Approx. duration 1 hour 40 mins (no interval). Subject to change.

Content Loud noises, theatrical blood, flame effect, prop gun and complete blackouts. Subject to change

"A brilliant Pamela Rabe performance" Limelight

★★★★★ Time Out

★★★★ The Sydney Morning Herald

★★★★1/2Limelight

★★★★ Cultural Binge