Nancy Carroll Is A Gift At Beckett's Birthday Celebration

HAPPY DAYS by Samuel Beckett 

Directed by Scott Edmiston

Featuring Nancy E. Carroll, Will McGarrahan

 

Set Design, Janie Howland; Costume Design, Gail Astrid Buckley;

Lighting Design, Deb Sullivan; Sound Design, Dewey Dellay;

Scenic Painting, Jenna McFarland

 

Performances through July 16     Box Office 978-281-4433 

www.GloucesterStage.com

 

 

In his final season as Artistic Director of the Gloucester Stage Company, Israel Horovitz has chosen to present works that reflect major creative influences in his life.  After commencing with The Heidi Chronicles to honor the memory of playwright Wendy Wasserstein, a former student and colleague, Horovitz and GSC are celebrating the 100th anniversary of Samuel Beckett's birthday.                                                                

The Nobel Prize laureate was both mentor and longtime friend to Horovitz from 1968 until his death in 1989.  In his remarks to the audience at the opening, Horovitz said, "In this life, we have our fathers of chance and our fathers of choice.  Samuel Beckett was, clearly, my father of choice."  He then proceeded to regale us with personal stories of their meeting and anecdotes culled from years of friendship, infusing our impressions of Beckett with humor and humanity.

Following the entertaining introduction by the winsome Horovitz, we entered Beckett's world in Happy Days, a two-character allegory in two acts.  There are some indisputable facts about the play that I can share with you.  Winnie (Nancy E. Carroll) is buried up to her waist in the first act and up to her neck in the second.  Willie (Will McGarrahan) spends most of his time unseen in a hole behind and below the woman.  His "lines" are primarily grunts, mutters, and groans, with few actual spoken words, while Winnie is responsible for almost all of the verbal content.  Her speech is virtually nonstop, but for the frequent scripted pauses that Beckett includes most precisely.  Sound and lighting are critical as bells signal the start and end of each day, and the intensity of the light changes to show the advancing hours.

Beyond this, it would be dishonest for me to tell you what the play is about.  I don't know.  Theories abound and I could do my best to interpret the symbolism, but that would be charlatanism.  It is far more important to let you know that the production is well mounted, intelligently directed and designed, and will challenge even the most avid theatregoer.

However, the greatest challenge is faced by the woman playing the part of Winnie, a role that Director Scott Edmiston refers to as "a kind of Everest for an actress."  At Gloucester Stage, Nancy Carroll gives a tour de force performance that is both nuanced and courageous.  In her first Beckett play, Carroll seems to have found the rhythm and cadence necessary to deliver his lines fluently.  If she had done only that, it would be an exemplary achievement, but hers is more in the category of extraordinary.

From the opening bell, Nancy's Winnie has our rapt attention whether she is examining the fine print on a tube of toothpaste, prattling on about memories or small joys, or lovingly kissing the barrel of a revolver that she pulled from her capacious black bag.  While we know that Willie is present, we rarely see him, yet we believe he's there because Carroll shows us Winnie's interactions with him.  Her comfort and sense of security are conveyed by a self-satisfied look and a relaxed posture, while her torso becomes taut and her eyes widen with doubt when Willie fails to respond to her.  It is said that the eyes are the windows to the soul and it is through Nancy Carroll's eyes that we really get to know what's going on with Winnie.  She can be elated, industrious, wistful, fearful, hopeful, or desperate, all within the span of a few moments.

In the first act, Winnie tiptoes to the edge of desperation, but always finds her way back to an optimistic place.  When she finds herself immersed up to her neck in the second act, her spirits have flagged and she appears more haggard and wan, maybe even a little crazier.  The actress must face front motionless throughout the act, moving only her eyes.  Carroll acknowledged the feeling of fighting the panic and despair, but her portrayal of Winnie is the stronger for it.  She channels it all back into the performance.  When she takes inventory of what she can see on her body (tongue, lips, cheek, brow), she contorts her face in an amusingly exaggerated way to catch a glimpse of each part.  While Happy Days is described as a "frivolity," it is more absurd than funny, but Carroll is able to wring some laughter from the audience.  She makes Winnie likeable, though loony, and wears her vulnerability on her sleeve as she struggles to keep her head above ground. 

After a long absence, Willie makes an appearance in morning coat, pinstripe trousers, and top hat, bringing palpable joy to Winnie.  McGarrahan gets the bulk of his onstage time here, only minutes before the end of the play.  The character attempts to scale the mound from which Winnie's head protrudes at the top, but he slides back to the bottom where he gazes up at her helplessly and utters, "Win."  Simply because he spoke to her, she responds, "Oh this is a happy day, this will have been another happy day!"  All's well that ends well.

At the post-show "talk back" session, the actors, director, and Israel Horovitz shared their knowledge and theories about the play and the playwright.  They explained the musicality inherent in Beckett's works and Edmiston compared directing Happy Days to conducting a symphony.  Carroll proffered that the key lesson she took away from playing Winnie is how difficult it is to remain optimistic.  Be that as it may, when she takes the stage at each performance with the prospect of using only her upper torso and her head, she takes a leap of faith that her head - and her heart - will be up to the challenge.  As Winnie says, "There is so little one can do.  One does it all."  In this production, Nancy Carroll does it all.