HAPPY DAYS
January 31st, 2008
Saw the Beckett play Happy Days last night at BAM. If you don’t know it, the main character Winnie is stuck in a hole in the ground for the entire play. She is like a cracked-out Mary Poppins, complete with umbrella, hat and carpet bag. She also has a gun named Brownie (couldn’t help but think of this). She talks constantly to herself and also to her husband Willie. The production made me very anxious and everyone around us was laughing loudly and that made me even more anxious. I’m sure I was frowning when I should have been laughing but really I found it more upsetting than anything else. In the second act (which is only about 25 minutes long) she has sunk even deeper into the hole and so only her head is visible. Very excellent.
“Is gravity what it was, Willie, I fancy not. (Pause.) Yes, the feeling more and more than if I were not held – (gesture) — in this way, I would simply float up into the blue. (Pause.) And that perhaps some day the earth will yield and let me go, the pull is so great, yes, crack all round and let me out. (Pause.) Don’t you ever have that feeling, Willie, of being sucked up? (Pause.) Don’t you have to cling on sometimes, Willie? (Pause. She turns a little towards him.) Willie.”
February 1st, 2008 at 1:07 am
Even WATCHING someone perform Beckett makes me feel like I just ran a goddamn marathon. Play is an amazing production if you get the timing right. You have to do breath exercises to perform Beckett, you just HAVE to.