Simon Wolfe will star as Willie, alongside Lisa Dwan as Winnie, in the 60th anniversary production of Samuel Beckett’s Happy Days at Riverside Studios, directed by Trevor Nunn.
Happy Days marks the first production from recently relaunched Anthology Theatre Productions. With a long history of investment and co-production, Anthology Theatre has repositioned itself as a full-scale production company, producing and managing its own work under newly appointed Managing Director & Executive Producer, Lil Lambley.
Happy Days, starring Simon Wolfe, opens on 17 June at Riverside Studios, where the playwright rehearsed Endgame in 1980 and Waiting for Godot in 1984, with previews from 11 June, and running until 25 July 2021. Tickets are on sale here.
You’re playing Willie in the 60th Anniversary Production of Happy Days, what can you tell us about the play?
Written in 1960-61, Happy Days was Samuel Beckett’s sixth play and follows a woman called Winnie who we discover buried up to her waist in the earth.
She performs her daily routines, reminisces, chats to her husband Willie, sings, prays, and counts her blessings, but is this enough to stop her sinking further?
And how would you describe your character?
I’m still working him out!
What do you think it is about Samuel Beckett’s writing that is so enduring?
I think Beckett will always endure, like all the great playwright poets, from Sophocles to Shakespeare, his topic is the very nature of existence, the joy and tragedy of life and what makes us human.
His writing is also hilarious, bleakly dark and laugh out loud funny.
Happy Days is directed by Trevor Nunn, what have you learned from working with such a prolific director?
Well, Trevor is a legend in the theatre and has directed everything and everyone, so just having that depth of knowledge and his eye for detail and understanding of the text during rehearsals has been a real education. He also has some of the best backstage gossip in the business!
Why is Riverside Studios the ideal venue for this production?
The Riverside has a great history of Beckett productions, from Billie Whitelaw in Rockaby/Footfalls/Enough, to Max Wall in Krapp’s Last Tape, and famously Beckett co-directed two productions for the San Quentin Drama Workshop, which he rehearsed at the Riverside in 1980 and 1984 before their international tours.
What would you say to anyone thinking of coming to see Happy Days?
It’s time to leave the house, sit in a room with some strangers (safely distanced of course!), and share an experience, it’s time to feel human again, together.
