Is It Ironic?

Curtain Call: Happy Days

by David Anthony Fox

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Published: Oct 7, 2009

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"Today will be a happy day," Winnie exclaims as she says her prayers. Of course, she's been awakened by an ear-splittingly shrill alarm. And she's mired in earth to her waist (literally). And the sun beats down, and she has only a delicate and uncooperative parasol to protect her. And her largely invisible and mostly nonverbal husband, Willie, can't be bothered to move so she could see him.

Yet Winnie bears it all, even with good cheer. She keeps up her appearance, and against all odds manages to brush her teeth, fix her hair and even apply a coat of lipstick. She gets a crick in her neck trying to glimpse Willie, but somehow she doesn't mind. Later, when she's dirty and disheveled and the earth has swallowed her further — to her neck, in fact — Winnie's religious beliefs falter, but not her romantic nature: Before bedtime, she sings a fragment of Lehár's hauntingly lovely "Merry Widow Waltz."

There's no doubting the historical importance of Happy Days, Beckett's modernist masterpiece. But it's difficult for contemporary audiences to connect with Winnie's plight. Surely we're meant to take this as very dark comedy?

Director David O'Connor seems to think so, and his production at Lantern is laced with a heavy dose of satire. This Winnie (a virtuosic and assured Mary Elizabeth Scallen) is no-fuss, no-muss. Only her occasional baleful stare hints at the stirrings of something deeper.

Under O'Connor's steady hand, the absurdist potential of Happy Days is realized, and Beckett would certainly approve of the degree to which his all-important stage conventions are obeyed. The intimate size of the Lantern is just about ideal for this piece. A lot of the comedy hits home, too.  

Yet there’s a level of pathos left unexplored here. Winnie’s quest to find something bright isn’t ironic — it’s profoundly, tragically sincere. Lantern’s Happy Days will make you laugh and think. But, unfortunately, it won’t break your heart.

Through Oct. 18, $27-$35, Lantern Theater Co. at St. Stephen’s Theater, 19 S. 10th St., 215-829-0395, lanterntheater.org.

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