Juliet Stevenson will reprise her critically acclaimed role in Natalie Abrahami’s hit production of Happy Days when it returns to the Young Vic in 2015 for a limited run.
Samuel Beckett’s surreal masterpiece will play from 13 February to 21 March and see David Beames also return to his role as Stevenson’s on stage husband.
Abrahami’s production opened at the Waterloo-venue earlier this year, wowing audiences with Olivier Award-winning actress Stevenson’s compelling portrayal of a woman buried up to her waist in sand. As the character lurches between optimism and fragments of memories, she desperately attempts to resist despair with a series of absurd distractions and diversions.
The esteemed Stevenson, whose many theatre credits include recent appearances in Duet For One at the Almeida Theatre and in the West End, and The Heretic at the Royal Court, was described by The Telegraph’s Charles Spencer in his four star review of the show as “mesmerising”.
The critic also paid tribute to Beckett’s seminal work, saying: “There are moments in life when I suspect most of us feel like Winnie – up to our neck in it, with no discernible way out. And that is what lends this peculiar yet deeply compassionate play its extraordinary power and resonance.”
Happy Days is the first production announced to play as part of the Young Vic’s 2015 season. Before then audiences have a wealth of entertainment to choose from at the venue over the course of 2014, including fellow classics A View From The Bridge (from 4 April), The Cherry Orchard (from 10 October) and the Gillian Anderson-led A Streetcar Named Desire (from 23 July).