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The Arts Intel Report

Happy Days

Judith Lucy as Winnie in Happy Days.

May 1 – June 10, 2023
140 Southbank Blvd, Southbank VIC 3006, Australia

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

Photo courtesy of Southbank Theatre