For the duration of Samuel Beckett’s play Happy Days, a woman named Winnie is trapped in a large pile of earth. In Act One it’s up to her waist; in Act Two, up to her neck. Her only companion is her husband, Willie, who occasionally pops out from behind the mound to say a few words. Immobile and alone, Winnie somehow remains optimistic despite her situation. Dame Peggy Ashcroft called Winnie “a summit part,” a role for women tantamount to Hamlet. Comedian Judith Lucy takes on Winnie in a new production at Southbank Theatre. Petra Kalive directs. —Jensen Davis