Monday, September 28, 2026
Samuel Beckett’s Happy Days has new meaning in the age of climate change
theconversation.com: In Happy Days, one of Irish playwright Samuel Beckett’s best-known plays, the body of the protagonist Winnie is embedded in a mound of sand or dirt. During the first act, she is buried to above her waist and in the second, she is buried up to her neck.
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TJ, my Foundations of Drama professor, mentioned Happy Days a few days ago when talking about non-realistic plays, and this article gives a new lens as to why this play may be top of mind for many theatre makers. As ecological collapse becomes not only a looming certainty but a present, tangible reality, it's tempting to ignore the situation, or else treat the situation as increasingly absurd. Temperatures rise, the fates of countless island and coastal cultures come into question, and you have to go to drafting today. Winnie has become a relatable character in a very literal way as climate change and its consequence becomes a predictable and almost pedestrian part of everyday life. Existential terror, over a long enough time span, becomes as mundane as any given happy day. You must fight against this malaise, but it ain't always easy.
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