As part of the 30th Anniversary celebrations of the Samuel Beckett Theatre, Trinity College Dublin, the venue is playing host to a photographic exhibition detailing the remarkable Irish language productions of Happy Days (Laethanta Sona) presented by Company SJ on Inis Oírr, Aran Islands and in the Samuel Beckett Theatre at Trinity College in 2021. The groundbreaking performances, with Bríd Ní Neachtain as Winnie, Raymond Keane as Willie, and directed by Sarah Jane Scaife from a text translation by Mícheál Ó Conghaile, resulted in a production which was as innovative as it was faithful to the text. The communal nature of the production on the remote Aran Island, which involved local expertise in manipulating slabs of limestone to create ‘the mound’ and which was augmented by detailed recorded interviews with the islandwomen, was meticulously and beautifully documented by photographer Cormac Coyne.
The current exhibition presents a selection of materials, including Coyne’s photographs, to celebrate the achievement and to bring it to a wider audience to its original, covid-restricted viewership.
The event Laethanta Sona: Saol ar an gCreig (Happy Days: Life on the Rock) runs from 21-27 May at the Samuel Beckett Theatre, Trinity College Dublin. Admission is free and open to all. Further details here.
The Samuel Beckett Society 