Buried, But Beaming

Samuel Beckett's masterful tragicomedy Happy Day comes to the Young Theatre in this new Soulpepper production. A startling and surreal portrayal of stasis masquerading as change, the emptiness of language, and loneliness, the play follows one woman, literally and figuratively buried up to her neck, as she tries to find the positive in every day.

What Is The Story?

The play opens on Winnie, buried up to her waist in a mound of earth, surrounded by her personal effects - a large black shopping bag and a collapsible parasol. Over the course of two acts, Winnie goes through several cleaning rituals, retrieving objects like a toothbrush from her bag. Each object holds a memory for her, and she is transported back to happier days. Her husband Willie, always on the periphery of her vision, is a source of both companionship and frustration. As the hole threatens to swallow more of her body, her futile optimism raises seemingly unanswerable questions about life in the way only Beckett can.