Product Description

Suffused with tenderness, lucidity, and humor, Samuel Beckett's Happy Days is a comedy in pure, music-hall style. Legendary three-time Tony Award-winning actress Irene Worth (Lost in Yonkers) stars as Winnie, an optimist who--deep down--senses she has little to feel "happy" about, though she never allows a day to pass without looking her best and hoping for better. Worth gives a tour-de-force performance as she chatters incessantly and cheerily on a variety of subjects, portraying Winnie as the embodiment of humankind's nobler virtues: wise, just, majestic, and committed to her conviction that "this will have been a happy day."

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #90724 in DVD
• Released on: 2003-01-28
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Color, DVD, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 90 minutes

Customer Reviews

The brilliance of Beckett and Worth
Irene Worth was a great actress. When teamed with Samuel Beckett's words, it is an experience to be treaured. True, Beckett is not for everyone. But for anyone with a brain, a heart, a soul, and a sense of humanity, Beckett connects. Those who don't "get" Beckett tend to hate Beckett and that's too bad. For the rest of us, Beckett hits a chord, creates a visceral reaction, illuminates the abyss. And Miss Worth (whose name was pronounced Irene-y, just as it is in England, where she spent a great deal of her career) is simply delightful to watch, as she always was. She combines the sadness, optimism, coyness, despair, beauty, and humour that is Winnie, in a way that few actresses could hope to do.

Essential and timeless: a perfect marriage of two artists
One of Beckett's most profound and moving plays is also one of his funniest.

Irene Worth, one of the world's greatest stage actresses, embodies one of theater's greatest female roles with both a lyrical tenderness and a deep sensuality.There is, in fact, nothing overblown or stagy about her performance: Worth is the quintessential Winnie. Famous for her deeply intelligent interpretations and blessed with a marvelously resonant voice, she is the ideal actress for a part that requires so little physicality and so much vocal depth. She understands every word of Beckett's text, and conveys her understanding with every breath she takes.

To say she is too "theatrical" and to ridicule the pronunciation of her name are pitifully inaccurate and pitifully beside the point.

The recording of her performance in this great play is a marvelous document to possess.

A great introduction to beckett's theatrical work
This is a wonderful production of Happy Days, as far as I know faithful to Beckett's specific directions (he considered his stage directions as important as the dialog). Irene Worth is magnificent, as is the actor who played Willy. By all means, buy this DVD and enjoy it. If you're new to Beckett, this will whet your appetite for more. For the big Beckett fan (like me), I highly recommend Beckett on Film, the 4-DVD set of all 19 of Beckett's theatrical works, with a fine documentary and commentary, done by 19 contemporary directors. It's pricey but well worth the money.

There is an interesting controversy about filming Beckett's work and the 'interpretation' that that implies. Make your own decision -- and enjoy.