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17 October 2025
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5*****
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Samuel Beckett is a playful writer – playing with words, with meaning, playing with the audience and so often putting the ball into their court to decide what his writing is all about. Staging any of his works is one hell of a challenge and can never be done lightly. ‘Happy Days’, written in 1961, was likely born out of his experiences in the Second World War when volunteering in France amidst the devastating destruction of towns and villages.
In the play, Winnie, is waist deep in waste – detritus from her life which she wears and which gradually consumes her. Living to the sound of a bell to wake her and send her to sleep, she exists by talking about the nonsensical things that happen and have happened, playing with her few possessions (toothbrush, magnifying glass, music box, revolver) in her bag and always trying to put a brave face on a life which has run out of steam, is banal and pointless and full of trivia. Winnie is lonely but does have the company of Willie who is largely hidden from view – virtually monosyllabic – their relationship in tatters and built on memories. The loneliness of old age is writ large as is the human instinct to hoard the useless and pin optimism on the hopeless. Winnie is constantly upbeat, “This is a happy day” she continually says – but it is the same day, again and again – her words are largely meaningless and she clings on to life. By the second half of the play, Willie has disappeared (dead?) Winnie is up to her neck in the surrounding rubbish, suggesting she is sinking further into the ground where she will decay. But you make your own interpretation.
This production by Theatre Collection Guildford is directed by Jaymes Sygrove (who also plays Willie) and features one of the performances of the year from Catharine Humphrys as Winnie. The collaboration here between actor and director is vital for success and the result is a smart, thoughtful, stark and lucid (well as lucid as Beckett can get) production which sends the audience away with their collective head buzzing.
An actor taking on the role of Winnie has to take a deep breath – it is a mammoth role, virtually a monologue throughout and Catharine Humphreys is supreme – with a wonderfully mobile face, she moves from emotion to emotion with ease and creates a most moving portrayal. Director, Sygrove, has taken the bold decision to pre-record some of Winnie’s lines, creating a dialogue between inner thoughts and those she wishes to express out loud – as if she has a friend, albeit a non-existent one. It creates an extra tension and gives Humphreys even more chances to express what is being said in her face.
In the far smaller role of Willie, who you barely see before the end of the play, James Sygrove is wonderfully gruff and random, crawling around on all fours into his ‘mound’ – what looks like an abandoned chaise longue out the end of which he sticks his legs. When he appears at the end of the play in dark suit it appears to be for a funeral – but whose? Like some kind of massive spider he approaches Winnie and the play ends as he reaches; for Winnie or for the revolver? Who knows?
Despite the humour, throughout there is a feeling of foreboding, apocalyptic even – maybe these are the only people left on Earth? The atmosphere is created as the audience enter to Arvo Pärt’s minimalist work ‘Für Aline’ which just sets one on edge. Throughout the soundscape is very effective and as the play becomes more bleak so this is reflected in the lighting states. Design wise, Winnie’s ‘dress’ is a triumph and the props so carefully chosen and absolutely correct.
Beckett wrote extensive and very specific stage directions which must be something of a minefield to work through – Sygrove has been highly respectful on this front but not allowed them to overwhelm his work.
Full of touching, funny and ironic moments; the use of music from ‘The Merry Widow’ is a case in point as is the title of the play, it is easy to see why ‘Happy Days’ is regarded so highly and has attracted high calibre actors to take on the role of Winnie.
This tour-de-force of a play is given a fresh, moving and deeply thought provoking production here with a stunning and memorable central performance and with keen, thoughtful and imaginative direction.
Cast
Winnie – Catharine Humphrys
Willie – James Sygrove
Creatives
Writer – Samuel Beckett
Director – James Sygrove
Lighting & Sound – Elisabeth Tooms
Mound – Tracey Collier/Freya Mallia
Photo Credit – Victor Sobchak
A Theatre Collection Guildford Production
