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| Dianne Wiest |
Samuel Beckett’s classic Happy
Days is currently playing at the Mark Taper Forum.
What’s being called Beckett’s
absurdist masterpiece, Happy Days stars
Dianne Wiest, who plays Winnie and Michael Rudko who plays her out of touch
husband, Willie. For most of the story, he’s out of sight. Even though she begs
him to communicate with her, Willie instead reads his newspaper or hides away
in a hole burrowed into the sand. At one point she asks, “Was I lovable, once, Willie?
Was I ever lovable?”
When the play opens Winnie is standing up to her waist in sand.
There is a big, black purse near her with makeup, a toothbrush, a music box and
more.
As she stands there underneath a blazing sun, Winnie tries her
best to stay positive about her circumstances. It’s never revealed just how and
why she ended up waist deep in sand, nor why her husband is so distant – in
more ways than one. It’s as if the earth was swallowing her whole. Is it
because she’s been overcome by life, fear?
Beckett said of this play, “Here all is strange.”
No
truer words were ever spoken. Full disclosure. I was lost for much of the play.
It took me forever to figure out what was happening and even after I thought I
had a handle on it – I realized I didn’t.
That’s
because although Wiest moves very little, there is still a lot going on.
Essentially she is performing a monologue about her life – and all the while
making light of her precarious situation.
In
act one when Winnie is up to her waist in the sand, she moves her upper body quite
a bit to reach for her purse, brush her teeth, hold an umbrella, put on her
makeup and honor the sun.
When
act two opens, Winnie is now up to her neck in sand. What happened? Why is she now unable to move any part of
her body? None of it is revealed. It’s
not wrapped in a pretty little bow. Beckett wants you to figure out some things
for yourself.
 |
| Michael Rudko |
The
show, which opened in 1961 at New York
City’s Cherry Lane Theatre has been called absurdly
funny. I must have missed something. It was interesting, thought-provoking and
occasionally humorous – but there was no side-splitting humor. A friend told me
it was white people humor. Hmmmm. I don’t necessarily buy that. I’m pretty
sophisticated, but I must admit I didn’t understand why the audience laughed in
certain places.
While she tried her best to see the bright side of her situation, I found Winnie to be a sad character.
That
being said, Wiest is a beast. She is incredible. Her tone, inflections,
presentation, and articulation make it all look easy as she quite deftly takes us from one story to the next. That being said, I don’t
ever have to hear the name Willie spoken ever again. (once you see the play, you’ll understand) What
an amazing performance by Wiest and Rudko.
In the end, I’m still not quite sure what I witnessed, but I’d do
it again just to watch Dianne Wiest work her magic!
Happy Days is written by Samuel Beckett, directed by James Bundy and stars Wiest and Rudko.
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| (Foreground) Michael Rudko and Dianne Wiest |
The design team includes scenic designer Izmir Ickbal, costume designer Alexae Visel, lighting designer Stephen Strawbridge, and sound designer Kate Marvin. Catherine Sheehy and Nahuel Telleria serve as dramaturgs and the production stage manager is Kelly Montgomery.
Happy Days, Mark Taper Forum, 135
N. Grand Ave., LA; 8 p.m., Tues.-Fri.; 2:30 p.m. and 8 p.m.; 1 and 6:30 p.m.
Sun.; through June 30, 2019. No Monday performances. No performance on June 30.
No 1 p.m. performance on Sun., June 2 and June 23. No 8 p.m. performance on
June 8. No 2:30 p.m. performance on Sat., June 15; $32-$115; www.CenterTheatreGroup.org; 213
628 2772.
On
the DONLOE SCALE: D (don’t bother), O (oh, no), N (needs work), L (likable), O
(oh, yeah) and E (excellent), Happy Days
gets an O (oh, yeah).
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