Pamela Rabe takes on Happy Days

Australian stage icon Pamela Rabe will take on one of the greatest roles ever written, by one of the 20th century’s greatest playwrights, Samuel Beckett in Sydney Theatre Company’s Happy Days, playing STC’s Wharf 1 Theatre from 5 May.

Conceived and directed by Pamela Rabe and Nick Schlieper – award-winning Lighting Designer for over 100 STC productions including Kip Williams cine-theatre sensations The Picture of Dorian Gray, Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and Dracula – this production of Beckett’s classic play is a unique theatrical collaboration by two legends of Australian theatre-making.

Winnie (Pamela Rabe) is buried above her waist in a mound of earth and determined to make the best of a bad situation. The sun beats down on her, relentlessly. She chatters away to her husband Willie, played Markus Hamilton (Sweat, Fences), a man of few words who she prompts for affection and approval. Undaunted, she continues to celebrate each happy day. Written in the distilled and brilliant style that crowned Beckett the greatest dramatist of his day, this existential portrait of a life illuminates the power of the human spirit when faced with seemingly impossible circumstances

Rabe:

I’m excited to be sharing a rehearsal room with so many great artists, not only those present down on the STC Wharf but also the spirit of Samuel Beckett and all the Winnie’s who’ve gone before. It’s daunting and incredibly stimulating: the process of mining Beckett’s meticulous text, building Winnie’s world, and making her unusual predicament resonate for an audience is part maths, part archaeology, part slapstick, and very much a privilege. She’s endearing, mercurial, resourceful, wilful, occasionally a bit silly but always full of Life.

Samuel Beckett is known for his intellectual writing, exploring absurdity of human existence. This new production will plumb the original depths of Beckett’s script while exploring the play’s haunting and inspiring contemporary resonances

Schlieper:

This is an extraordinary act of perseverance, An excavation of the human spirit in the face of erasure. Beckett tests the limits of resilience, the will to go on even as everything – memory, identity, even time itself – crumbles. There is a sense of timelessness in a landscape stripped of all features and bleached by the sun, where the audience is invited to witness the uncertainty, the absurdity, the whimsy and ultimately, the quiet triumph of endurance.

Together with Pamala Rabe and Nick Schlieper, Happy Days is brought to life by Costume Designer, Mel Page, Sound Designer Stefan Gregory, and STC Resident Director, Kenneth Moraleda as Assistant Director.

Season Details

Venue: Wharf 1 Theatre | STC
Date: 05 May – 15 Jun 2025

For more information click HERE

Image credit: Rene Vaile