BROADCAST LIVE FROM THE OLYMPIA THEATRE, DUBLIN SATURDAY 30 JANUARY 2021 - OLYMPIA THEATRE AND LANDMARK PRODUCTIONS
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HAPPY DAYS 1 OLYMPIA THEATRE AND LANDMARK PRODUCTIONS BROADCAST LIVE FROM THE OLYMPIA THEATRE, DUBLIN SATURDAY 30 JANUARY 2021
HAPPY DAYS PROGRAMME NOTE 2 A NOTE FROM it 100% live from the stage of THE GENERAL The Olympia tonight and send it MANAGER directly to you. It is my hope that OF THE OLYMPIA streaming this incredible piece of THEATRE work directly into homes across the world gives us the chance I would like to begin by sending to promote the work of this Irish our heartfelt thanks to the literary giant to an even wider Minister of Tourism, Culture, audience than before. Maybe Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media it will open the door to a family Catherine Martin for setting up member of yours to sit with you the Live Performance Support and appreciate the mastery of Scheme as a way of trying to Samuel Beckett at work in the generate some much needed hands of this remarkably talented employment in our sector. I would cast and crew. And hopefully it also like to extend our gratitude will give you all a real feeling of to the dedicated staff in the what live theatre is truly capable Department who have shown of, even in the most difficult of immense patience helping us circumstances. navigate the process. This scheme has given us the chance to bring And now, with no further ado, some of our staff back to work at I invite you all to please take a time when there are very little your seats. I encourage you to opportunities within our industry. switch off all digital distractions for the next few hours, turn Initially this production of Samuel off all the lights and transport Beckett’s iconic Happy Days yourself into the world of live was set to be performed in theatre for a short while. We will front of a reduced audience in all be all back in the wonderful The Olympia Theatre but given surroundings of The Olympia the current restrictions we are Theatre soon but until that Happy unable to open our doors to the Day, please enjoy! public. I am therefore delighted that we are in the position to film John Johnston
HAPPY DAYS PROGRAMME NOTE 3 ANOTHER HEAVENLY DAY When Caitríona McLaughlin sustained them through several told me a year ago that she and lockdowns. Siobhán McSweeney had a glimmer in their eye, I did what Along the way we were joined all good producers do when by the brilliant Marty Rea, by an they hear a brilliant idea, and ran extraordinarily talented creative towards it. team, and by a production team who have worked tirelessly Then the pandemic hit, and to deliver a major production the very thing that underpins under the most stringent Covid everything we do – gathering protocols imaginable. together in the same place, at the same time, to rejoice in the We are hugely grateful to power of shared stories that help our long-time collaborators to make sense of our world – the Olympia Theatre for their disappeared. partnership on this unique project; to Seismic for the care It seems extraordinary that this and expertise they have brought play was written in 1961. Sixty to the filming and streaming; years have passed, but Winnie’s and to the Beckett Estate for endurance, and resilience, agreeing to this exceptional live and sheer defiance against broadcast performance. impossible odds, seem to speak to us now, as never before. We cannot perform to a live audience right now. But the Although for many months it was time WILL come when the not at all clear that we would be seats in the Olympia Theatre able to bring the production to are thronged once again, and the stage, Caitríona and Siobhán when that time comes the met regularly via zoom, and those director, designers, actors, stage regular creative explorations managers, production manager,
HAPPY DAYS PROGRAMME NOTE 4 technical manager, sound Sports and Media under the technicians, lighting technicians, Pilot Live Performance Support costume supervisors, Scheme, we are privileged to wardrobe people, stage crew, be able to bring you this once- photographer, graphic designer, off live broadcast of Samuel countless other support Beckett’s masterpiece. personnel – all the people who make up a theatre production So this IS a happy day. company in full flow – will breathe a sigh of relief. Anne Clarke Producer In the meantime, thanks to the Landmark Productions support of the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht,
HAPPY DAYS DESIGN NOTES 5 DESIGN NOTES My early thoughts about the them, take away, reveal: how design were strongly influenced sometimes only traces of what by us wanting to show how the was there before are left in the mound has been created through sand when the tide goes out. layers accumulating over time, looking at cross sections of earth Add to this the context of Winnie where fossilisation has occurred, being held in an environment and how repeated evidence of within abstract black walls. These the past can be covered up or walls, tapering at the sides, revealed. We were interested connect with the confinement of in the feeling of endless tides Winnie’s corseted black dress; forming drifts of sand, and they evoke both an internal and what those tides bring in with external world, sand flowing PHOTO: DANNY HONES
HAPPY DAYS DESIGN NOTES 6 in through doorways, inspired the openings become narrower by the deserted houses on the and the environment, as well coast of Namibia, flooded by as Winnie, significantly more sand over time. confined. This in turn led to the creation Jamie Vartan of a wider environment of Set and Costume Designer other mounds, and the feeling that there have been endless recreations of the same event. For Act 2, we wanted to make it clear that the mound has grown around Winnie, rather than her sinking into it, as more tides have come in, so the gaps between
HAPPY DAYS CAST AND CREATIVES 7 CAST Winnie Siobhán McSweeney Willie Marty Rea Director Caitríona McLaughlin Set and Costume Design Jamie Vartan Lighting Design Paul Keogan Sound Design Sinéad Diskin Associate Director Aonghus Óg McAnally PRODUCTION Production Manager Eamonn Fox Stage Manager Sophie Flynn Assistant Stage Manager Dylan Farrell Hair and Make-up Val Sherlock Costume Supervisor Monica Ennis Costume Maker Denise Assas-Tynan Wardrobe Supervisor Nicola Burke Lighting Programmer Richard Lambert Chief LX Colm Robinson
HAPPY DAYS CAST AND CREATIVES 8 PRODUCTION Crew Hugh Roberts Pawel Nieworaj Vincent Doherty Florea Florin Gus McDonagh Lighting Crew Gráinne Farrell Veronica Foo Pyrotechnics Sé Purcell Set Construction Theatre Production Services Set Builders Paolo Foley Pat Byrne Matt Stevens Scenic Artist Sandra Butler Company Manager Tilly Taylor Publicist Sinéad O’Doherty Marketing Carla Rogers Graphic Design Gareth Jones Photography Patrick Redmond Digital Graphic Design Sayonara Bittencourt Producing Assistant Jack Farrell Box Office Assistant Annie Duffy McMahon
HAPPY DAYS CAST AND CREATIVES 9 OLYMPIA THEATRE General Manager John Johnston Assistant Manager Frankie Brennan Stage/Production Manager Fearga O’Doherty House LX Dillon Keane Flyman Shane O’Farrell Sound Engineer John Chisolm Stage Door and Covid Compliance Officer Aaron Kennedy Maintenance Manager Stephen Smullen Maintenance Operative Thomas Walker Accounts Director Amanda O’Leary Management Accountant Donal Turley Cleaning Supervisor Anna Mutovkina Cleaning Contractors Ryans Cleaning LANDMARK PRODUCTIONS Producer Anne Clarke Associate Producer | Livestream Hugh Farrell Associate Producer Tilly Taylor Marketing | Landmark Live Sinéad McPhillips General Manager Pádraig Heneghan
HAPPY DAYS CAST AND CREATIVES 10 SEISMIC | BROADCAST STREAMING Director Noel Vaughan Camera Operators Martin Cavanagh Katie Hughes Audio Engineer Karl McGovern Production Technician Conleth Stanley Streaming Directors Willie Van Velzen Matt Herlihy Executive Producer Jessica Fuller
HAPPY DAYS CAST AND CREATIVES 11 CAITRÍONA Opera work includes The McLAUGHLIN Abduction from the Seraglio and DIRECTOR This Hostel Life (Irish National Caitríona is an Associate Opera); Riders to the Sea and Director of The Abbey Theatre, Lennox Berkeley’s A Dinner Ireland where she will next direct Engagement (Wexford Opera); Marina Carr’s new play cycle The Banished, ll Ballo delle Ingrate Boy. and Scipio’s Dream, (Royal Irish Academy of Music). Caitriona is from Donegal. Over the last few years she has Earlier directing work includes directed primarily in London, Luck Just Kissed You Hello Dublin, and New York. Recent (Galway International Arts productions include On Raftery’s Festival and Dublin Theatre Hill (The Abbey) for which she Festival 2015 – ITTA nomination won Best Director at the 2019 Best New Play), She Knit the Irish Times Theatre Awards, Roof (Errigal Arts Festival, Citysong (ITTA nomination Best Donegal), Killers and Other New Play), Two Pints, Josephine Family (Rattlestick Playwrights K and the Algorithms, Monsters Theatre, New York), Science Dinosaurs Ghosts, Blood in the (Spark Opera), Crowns on the Dirt (Landmark Productions), Wire (Verbal Arts Centre, national Autumn Royal and Foyle Punt tour), Bunny’s Vendetta and The (The Local Group). Recruiting Officer (Blue Eagle Productions); The Factory Girls (Millennium Forum Theatre and Irish Tour), Irish Blood, English Heart, (Union Theatre and West End transfer to Trafalgar Studios, London), Mozart at Freemasons (Royal Irish Academy of Music, Dublin, 2014), The Wild Duck 2012 and Judgement Day 2010 (Bard Summerscape NY).
HAPPY DAYS CAST AND CREATIVES 12 SIOBHÁN McSWEENEY WINNIE Siobhán is originally from Cork (Birmingham Rep) and The Flags and trained at Central School of (Royal Exchange). Speech & Drama, London and Ecole Philippe Gaulier, Paris. Film credits include Nowhere Special, Louis Wain, Extra Theatre credits include Pity Ordinary, and Alice in (Royal Court), Katie Roche Wonderland: Through the (Abbey Theatre), Autumn Royal Looking Glass. (Everyman Productions), The Alchemist (RSC), As You Like Television credits include Derry It, The Captain of Köpenick, Girls, Collateral, The Fall, No The Kitchen, Mother Courage Offence and London Irish. and Her Children, England She is the new host of The People Very Nice (National Great Pottery Throwdown Theatre), How to Hold Your starting this year. Breath (Royal Court), Fathers and Sons (Donmar Warehouse), Uncle Vanya (Lyric Theatre, Belfast), Translations (Curve Theatre), Dancing at Lughnasa
HAPPY DAYS CAST AND CREATIVES 13 MARTY REA WILLIE Marty graduated from RADA Gatsby, Juno and the Paycock, in 2002 with a BA degree in The Importance of Being acting. He has won The Irish Earnest, The Caretaker, An Ideal Times Theatre Awards Best Husband, My Cousin Rachel, Actor for Hamlet (2011) and Little Women, Hay Fever, DruidShakespeare (2016) and Salomé, Arcadia (Gate Theatre); Best Supporting Actor for King 14 Voices From the Bloodied of the Castle and The Great Field, Dear Ireland (an unreliable Gatsby (2018). ex-lover suddenly writes), Thirst (and other bits of Flann), Richard Theatre includes DruidGregory, III, Othello, She Stoops To The Cherry Orchard, The Conquer, The Hanging Gardens, Beacon, Epiphany, Richard III, Major Barbara, John Gabriel King of the Castle, The Beauty Borkman, The Rivals, Only an Queen of Leenane, Waiting For Apple, The Big House, Saved, Godot (Herald Angel Winner, The Importance of Being Earnest Edinburgh Festival 2018), (Abbey Theatre); and Hamlet DruidShakespeare, Brigit, Be (Second Age). Infants in Evil, The Colleen Bawn, DruidMurphy (Druid Film and television credits include Theatre); The Glass Menagerie Strays (Arcade Film); Prisoners (2019), Beginning, The Great of the Moon (Bandit Films); Citizen Lane; Barbarians Rising! (October Films); The Devils Pool (Vico Films); The Man Inside (Broken Pictures Ltd.).
HAPPY DAYS CAST AND CREATIVES 14 AONGHUS ÓG McANALLY ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR Aonghus is a graduate of (productions include Major the Samuel Beckett Centre, Barbara, The House, Burial Trinity College Dublin and also at Thebes and The Plough trained with Anne Bogart’s and the Stars), Rough Magic, SITI Company in New York. He Corcadorca, Performance founded Rise Productions in Corporation and many more as 2010 and in the past decade well as numerous screen and has produced a huge range of radio appearances on both Irish award-winning theatre in venues and international productions. across Ireland (including his His screen appearances include own multi-award winning one Penny Dreadful (Showtime), man show Fight Night) as well Vikings (History/MGM), P.S. I as numerous acclaimed audio Love You, John Boorman’s The and video productions. Directing Tigers Tail and Jim Sheridan’s credits include Weekend The Secret Scripture. He Warrior, Kicking all the Boxes, most recently appeared in Big The Good Father, Tear Down Telly’s immersive Zoom-based the Walls, Mad Forest, Murder performances of Macbeth for of Crows and Normal. Aonghus the Belfast Festival and Creation has appeared in many theatre Theatre in late 2020. productions for the Abbey
HAPPY DAYS CAST AND CREATIVES 15 JAMIE VARTAN SET AND COSTUME DESIGNER Jamie Vartan has worked Design, Evening Standard Best extensively as a designer in Set Design Nomination). theatre and opera in Ireland, the UK and Europe, with Other designs for theatre include representations at Prague Ravens (Hampstead Theatre); Quadrennials 1999, 2007 and several productions at the Abbey 2011, and World Stage Design Theatre, Dublin, including The 2013 (WSD 2013 Best Set Playboy of the Western World Design award). and Mrs Warren’s Profession; Knives in Hens and The Designs for theatre include Pale Importance of Being Earnest Sister (Gate Theatre, Dublin), (Perth Theatre); Bondagers Grief is the Thing with Feathers (Edinburgh Lyceum); Khandan (O’Reilly Theatre, Dublin, New (Royal Court); Mass Observation York and Barbican), Arlington (Almeida) and The Lost Child (Landmark Productions and Trilogy (David Glass Ensemble), Galway International Arts Festival, with residencies in Vietnam, Abbey Theatre, Dublin, St Ann’s Indonesia, China, the Philippines Warehouse, New York), Woyzeck and Colombia, and a number in Winter (Landmark Productions, of productions at Nottingham Galway and Barbican), Ballyturk Playhouse. (Landmark Productions and Galway International Arts Designs for opera include The Festival, Olympia Theatre, Dublin, Second Violinist, Landmark Lyttleton, National Theatre) and INO (Galway, Barbican, and Misterman (Landmark Amsterdam, NYC), Hansel and Productions and Galway Gretel (INO tour), The Last Hotel International Arts Festival, St for Landmark and Wide Open Ann’s Warehouse, New York, Opera (Lyceum, Edinburgh Lyttleton, National Theatre - Irish International Festival/O’Reilly Times Theatre Awards Best Set Theatre, Dublin Theatre Festival,
HAPPY DAYS CAST AND CREATIVES 16 Linbury Studio, ROH, St Onegin (Strasbourg Opera) and Ann’s Warehouse, New York, Ariadne auf Naxos (La Scala, Luxembourg); Bluebeard’s Milan). Other designs include Castle, INO (Gaiety Theatre); productions at Teatro Lirico Cristina di Svezia (Wexford di Cagliari, Teatro San Carlo, Festival Opera); A Village Romeo Naples, Florence, Parma, ROH and Juliet (Wexford Festival and Scottish Opera. Opera, Irish Times Theatre Awards Best Set Design); La Design for dance with Traviata (Malmö); Ariadne auf choreographer Darshan Singh Naxos (Salzburg Festspielhaus); Bhuller includes Requiem Il Pirata (Marseille); Carmen (Phoenix Dance Company, (Lisbon); The Queen of Spades Sadlers Wells) and Recall (La Scala, Milan); Eugene (Linbury Studio, ROH).
HAPPY DAYS CAST AND CREATIVES 17 PAUL KEOGAN LIGHTING DESIGNER Theatre credits include Blood (Trafalgar Studios, London). in the Dirt, Postcards from The Opera and Dance credits Ledge, The Walworth Farce include: 20 Shots of Opera (Landmark, Dublin); The Great (Irish National Opera Film); Hunger, Last Orders at the The Marriage of Figaro (Irish Dockside, Citysong, On Raftery’s National Opera); The Return Hill (Abbey Theatre, Dublin); of Ulysses (Opera Collective, The Snapper, Hamlet, The Red Ireland); Falstaff (Vienna Shoes, Molly Sweeney (Gate Staatsoper); Dialogues des Theatre Dublin); Love, Love, Love Carmelites (Grange Park (Lyric Hammersmith); I Think We Opera UK); Powder her Face Are Alone (Frantic Assembly, (Teatro Arriaga, Bilbao); The UK Tour); Shirley Valentine, Fairy Queen (RIAM Dublin); Double Cross (Lyric Theatre, Maria de Buenos Aires (Cork Belfast); Lady Windermere’s Opera House); Wake (Nationale Fan (West End); A Streetcar Reisopera, Netherlands); Lost Named Desire, Twelfth Night (Ballet Ireland); Sama & Flight and The Hudsucker Proxy (Rambert, London); No Man’s (Liverpool Everyman and Land (English National Ballet); Playhouse); Cyprus Avenue Cassandra, Hansel and Gretel (Abbey, Dublin/Royal Court/ (Royal Ballet, London). Public, NYC); Harvest (Royal Court); The Caretaker (Bristol Old Vic); Incantata, Trad, The Matchbox (Galway International Arts Festival); Far Away, Sacrifice at Easter (Corcadorca, Cork); The Gaul (Hull Truck Theatre); Blue/Orange, Tribes (Crucible, Sheffield); Born Bad (Hampstead); Novecento
HAPPY DAYS CAST AND CREATIVES 18 SINÉAD DISKIN SOUND DESIGNER Sinéad Diskin is a sound (Abbey Theatre); The Anvil designer, composer and song (ANU Productions, Manchester writer based in Dublin, Ireland. International Festival); The She is a graduate of the SEEDS Snapper (Gate Theatre, programme with Rough Magic Dublin); The Glass Menagerie Theatre Company, Dublin and a (Gate Theatre, Dublin); The recipient of the Next Generation Phlebotomist (Hampstead Artists Award 2019 from the Arts Theatre, London); Torch (ANU Council of Ireland. Productions); Mr. Burns: A Post Electric Play (Rough Magic Recent theatre credits include SEEDS Showcase); Rapids Pale Sister (Gate Theatre, (Dublin Theatre Festival 2017) Dublin); Blood in the Dirt and as assistant sound designer/ (Landmark Productions); composer: Three Tall Women Faultline (ANU Productions); (Broadway); The Train (Rough Incantata (Galway International Magic); Danse, Morob (The Arts Festival; Irish Rep Theatre, Emergency Room), and Death New York; Gate Theatre, at Intervals (The Emergency Dublin); Ask Too Much of Me Room).
HAPPY DAYS OLYMPIA THEATRE 19 OLYMPIA THEATRE The Olympia Theatre is a Guerrilla Days in Ireland, A beautifully preserved theatre in Skull in Connemara to name but the heart of Dublin City, and one a few! We’ve been privileged of Dublin’s most loved venues. to host such uniquely talented It first opened its doors in 1879 actors as Brian Dennehy, Cillian as Dan Lowrey’s Star of Erin Murphy, Stephen Rea, Brendan Music Hall and has since hosted Gleeson, Brian Gleeson, a wide range of events every year Domhnall Gleeson, Tom including live music, comedy and Vaughan-Lawlor and Pat Shortt. theatre shows. The stellar reputation of the Over its formative years many theatre is proved time and time world famous names in the again when world famous acts theatre and film world have request intimate shows here for appeared on the stage in the their Irish fans. The Olympia’s Olympia. These include Charlie stage has been graced by some Chaplin, Laurel and Hardy, Harry of the biggest names in music Lauder, Tyrone Power, Noel such as David Bowie, James Coward, Alec Guinness, John Brown, Adele, REM, Blur, Snow Gielgud, Dame Edith Evans, Patrol, Bryan Adams, Muse, Foo The Lunts, Jean Vilar and his Fighters, Radiohead, Morrissey, world famous company Theatre Arcade Fire, Hozier to name a few. Nationale Populaire, and the incomparable Marcel Marceau. www.olympia.ie The Olympia has continued to play host to some world renowned theatre productions such as The Field, The Walworth Farce, Howie the Rookie, Ballyturk, Once, Jersey Nights,
HAPPY DAYS LANDMARK PRODUCTIONS 20 LANDMARK PRODUCTIONS Landmark Productions is one 66-seat New Theatre to the of Ireland’s leading theatre 1,254-seat Olympia. It co- producers. It produces wide- produces regularly with a number ranging work in Ireland, of partners, including, most and shares that work with significantly, Galway International international audiences. Arts Festival and Irish National Opera. Its 18 world premieres It recently launched Landmark include new plays by major Irish Live, a new online streaming writers such as Enda Walsh platform to enable the company and Mark O’Rowe, featuring a to bring its productions to roll-call of Ireland’s finest actors, audiences around the world. The directors and designers. first production to be streamed was Mark O’Rowe’s riveting Numerous awards include the play The Approach, of which Judges’ Special Award at The the New York Times said ‘even Irish Times Irish Theatre Awards, through our computer screens, a in recognition of ‘sustained production on a real stage with excellence in programming acting this fine is balm for the and for developing imaginative soul’. partnerships to bring quality theatre to the Irish and Led by Anne Clarke since the international stage’; and a Special company’s foundation in 2003, Tribute Award for Anne Clarke, for Landmark’s productions have her work as ‘a producer of world- received multiple awards and class theatre in the independent have been seen in leading sector in Ireland’. theatres in London, New York and beyond. It produces a wide www.landmarkproductions.ie range of ambitious work – plays, operas and musicals – in theatres ranging from the
HAPPY DAYS SEISMIC EVENTS 21 SEISMIC EVENTS Streaming and webcast events Clients include Landmark experts Seismic connect Productions, Primark Global, companies online live and on- RTÉ NSO, LinkedIn, the demand to audiences on any National Concert Hall, the GAA, device worldwide. Wexford Opera Festival, Irish Baroque Orchestra, Royal Irish Seismic is trusted to deliver Academy of Music, St. Patricks high quality secure streaming Cathedral, the Irish Times, Body and audio-visual services + Soul Festival, IDL Jameson, by companies in theatre, Co-operation Ireland, Dept. of music, opera and the broader Foreign Affairs. entertainment industry, the financial sector, professional Seismic services are delivered by services and by government a team of experienced and expert agencies. technical specialists; broadcast content producers and event Recent work includes The production crew for traditional Approach by Mark O’ Rowe and digital audiences. produced by Landmark Productions in association with Contact Seismic to talk about the Project Arts Centre, Dublin streaming your event today and St. Ann’s Warehouse, New www.seismicevents.ie York, The Irish Times Innovation Awards 2021, The Irish Times Willie Van Velzen Winter Nights Festival 2021, + 353 87 2675563 The Irish Times Sports Awards Jessica Fuller for Individual Productions, Irish + 353 87 4097394 Distillers Jameson for Nine Yards, the National Concert Hall Series and the RTÉ National Symphony Livestream Series.
HAPPY DAYS 22 COPYRIGHT NOTICE The underlying rights are No part of this recording may be owned by The Estate of copied, broadcast, downloaded, Samuel Beckett. stored (in any medium), transmitted, shown or played in public, adapted or changed in any way. If any unauthorised acts are carried out in relation to this recording, a civil claim for damages may be made and/or a criminal prosecution may result.
HAPPY DAYS FUNDING 23 FUNDING ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The Olympia Theatre and Landmark Productions would like to thank Minister Catherine Martin, TD, and the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media for making this production possible through the Pilot Live Performance Support Scheme. All government public health guidelines relating to safe working practices under Covid-19 have been followed in the making of Happy Days. Thank you to all our artists, creative teams and production teams for their resilience and innovation in the most challenging of circumstances, and for working so hard to create live theatre in extraordinary times.
HAPPY DAYS JOIN THE CONVERSATION 24 JOIN THE CONVERSATION Thank you for joining us to watch the live broadcast of Happy Days by Samuel Beckett. Join the conversation online using the hashtag #HappyDaysOlympia @olympiatheatre @landmarkIreland We’d love to hear your thoughts. Should you have any other comments that you’d like to share with us please email happydays@olympia.ie
HAPPY DAYS JOIN THE CONVERSATION 25
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