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By Samuel Beckett
Presented by Blue Raincoat Theatre
Directed by Niall Henry

In Happy Days we find Winnie, a woman in her 50s, buried waist-deep in the centre of a mound of scorched earth with little else around other than a large black bag and a collapsed parasol. Behind her and hidden from view sleeps husband Willie. A piercing bell rings, stops and rings again; Winnie wakes, looks up at the sky, and readies herself for another day…

Blue Raincoat Theatre Company have been touring their work throughout Ireland for over three decades with shows such as Alice Through the Looking Glass, The Third Policeman, The Bald Soprano and Shackleton.

A true Beckett classic, Happy Days marks the company’s 20th national tour and features long time company members Sandra O’Malley and John Carty.

Beckett told Brenda Bruce, who played Winnie in the original London production, what was going through his mind as he sat down to write the play: “Well I thought that the most dreadful thing that could happen to anybody, would be not to be allowed to sleep so that just as you’re dropping off there’d be a ‘Dong’ and you’d have to keep awake; you’re sinking into the ground alive; and the sun is shining endlessly day and night and there is not a tree … there’s no shade, nothing, and that bell wakes you up all the time and all you’ve got is a little parcel of things to see you through life.

Set design is by Jamie Vartan and lighting and sound design are by Barry McKinney and Joe Hunt.

This production was first performed at the company’s own theatre – The Factory Performance Space in Sligo – in the Spring of 2022.

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