Happy Days

QTC's version of Becket's famous play is in town, this production having an interpretation with a distinctively Australian feel. First impressions to set the mood are an eerie score in the foyer by Alan Lawrence followed by a design by Penny Challen with, firstly, a stage curtain depicting the Australian landscape, a painting by artist John Glover, followed by a surreal set influenced by contemporary artists like Drysdale and Nolan: all combined to create an expression of the bleak and desolate 'entrapment' of the central character, Winnie.     

It's important to remember Becket was very influenced by James Joyce and many of his Parisian counterparts in full flood in the early 1900's, all dabbling with alternative forms of expression, some teetering on the sublime, some verging on the questionable, so within Winnie's whirlwind of monologous patter, whilst stuck in a mound, there is understandably much more going on inside this writer's mind than meets the eye.

With each word in the script being just one of a sprinkling of hundreds and thousands on the icing, this play has predominantly more ingredients in the oven-baked base where Becket was far more interested in letting his audience '.... eat cake' as an expression of those questionable and exploratory times. Research is one of the key figures to understand where and why this concept evolved and it's interesting that the director's notes mention that the whole play could be performed in a suburban setting with Minnie in the kitchen doing the dishes and Willie in the lounge reading the newspaper.

Having seen this play before, including the movie version, I find it very dated now mainly because it came from an experimental era full of alternative diversity much of which has been taken to a variety of extremes since, but I was impressed by this particular presentation of an enigmatic play which has had scholars munching on its layers of meaning for years.

Carol Burns is perfectly cast in the central role and uses all the allegorical and metaphorical innuendos to great effect, and, in particular, the timing so eloquently stated in the script. Interpretation: well, Becket gives no indication in the script how the actor should feel, but this production certainly gets a message, if not the message, across.

Interesting for its place in history, Happy Days as a play lacks the lustre of its formative years but this is a well-crafted production with a high-gloss team on board.

Brian Adamson