happy days

just saw happy days at Malthouse. Beckett wrote this 1960-61 and it is still deliciously devastating. I think the delicious is because Julie Forsyth is so deadly good... the idea that someone is buried in a mound of earth and must pass the time filing one's nails... leave the revolver nearby in case you get the courage... wait for exactly the right impulse to sing the song or tell the favourite story before the bell rings signaling sun-down, lights out... is dire. So Happy Days is ironic yes? Julie, dear Julie gives us; no, she gives Beckett's most crushing statement on existence with twinkle. The set_Anna Cordingly, lighting _Paul Jackson, direction_Michael Kantor... and Julie's offsider Peter Carroll coalesce into a fairground living hell. I saw Julie do this play at Anthill... a looooong time ago; I was impressed with her then, (was it the first time I saw her perform?), and I'm super, uber-impressed now. Not that anyone reads blogs... but if just one person were to read this, then I say to you - GO SEE IT!! This must be seen. Truly. It is one of the great renditions of one of the great plays of the 'modern' era.