The Corn Exchange Presents HAPPY DAYS, 11/4-11/20

The Corn Exchange presents
Happy Days
By Samuel Beckett
Directed by Annie Ryan
A co-production with the Théâtre Nationale Populaire, Lyon

With Clara Simpson and Andrew Bennett

Project Arts Centre Space Upstairs
4th - 20th November 2010
Opens 9th November
(previews from the 4th)

Director Annie Ryan
Set & Costume Design Joe Vanek
Lighting Design Sinéad Wallace
Sound Denis Clohessy
Producer Sarah Durcan

Blazing Light. A woman buried to the waist in a mound of scorched earth. Waking to a piercing bell, Winnie faces another day with boundless optimism and endless chatter. She throws back her head and declare, "Another heavenly day."

Considered Samuel Beckett's most optimistic play, Happy Days is an hilarious, luminous and sublime portrayal of human resilience in the face of desolation.

Directed by Annie Ryan and reuniting Ensemble Members Andrew Bennett with the fabulous Clara Simpson as Winnie, who returns to The Corn Exchange for the first time since her award-winning performance in Lolita.
Clara is the daughter of actress Eileen Colgan and former Abbey director, Alan Simpson, who was also the first director of Beckett's work in Ireland. She has previously performed Samuel Beckett's Footfalls in French and English at the TNP with her mother, Eileen Colgan.

From the company behind last year's hit play, Freefall by Michael West, winner of Best New Play and Best Director at the Irish Time Irish Theatre Awards. Since premiering to great acclaim during last year's Ulster Bank Dublin Theatre Festival, Freefall has since gone on to play at the New Plays from Europe Festival, Wiesbaden, the Galway Arts Festival, the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, the Cervantino Festival in Mexico, and will play on the Abbey stage from 22nd Nov - 4th Dec. The company are planning more touring in 2011. Future work includes Man of Valour with Paul Reid, and a co-production with the National Theatre of Scotland.

The Corn Exchange was founded in Dublin 1995 by Annie Ryan to explore various techniques of physical theatre, focusing on ensemble-based improvisation and a renegade form of Commedia dell'Arte. The company's award-winning work has toured throughout Ireland and to Australia, USA, UK, France, the Netherlands, Germany and Mexico.
The company provides professional training for actors, and for businesses through its unique leadership programme. Randolf SD | The Company are an associate company.
The Corn Exchange is funded by The Arts Council of Ireland, Dublin City Council, by Culture Ireland for its international work, and by its Friends.

Runs 4 - 20 Nov for 17 performances
Previews 4, 5, 6, 8 Nov @ 7.30pm
Opens 9 Nov @ 7.30pm
Sat Mat 13, 20 Nov @ 2.30pm
Tickets: €12/€18/€22 Booking: 01 881 9613 www.projectartscentre.ie

Press information: Sinead O'Doherty / Gerry Lundberg Gerry Lundberg Public Relations Tel: 01 679 8476 / 086 259 1070 / 087 259 1070

Biographies

Clara Simpson
Winnie
Clara trained in Paris as a scholarship student at the Cours Neue Simon and the Cours Florent, she worked with numerous companies and directors there, including Oliver Py (Femme Canon, Bouquet Finale).
Now based in Lyon, she works regularly with the Théâtre Nationale Populaire, run by her husband, Christian Schiaretti. Work at the TNP includes: Feuilleton Musset - Etape 1 by Alfred De Musset, Le Fils Substitute by Luigi Pirandello, Pars Dessus Bord by Michel Vinaver, L'Opéra des Quat'Sous by Bertold Brecht, Come and Go, Not I, Footfalls by Samuel Beckett (performed in French and English), Le Petit Ordinaire, La Lune des Pauvres, Stabat Mater Furiosa by Jean-Pierre Simeon.
Recent work in Dublin includes Alice in Wonderland (Helix), The Cherry Orchard, translated by Tom Murphy (Abbey) and Death and the Ploughman. Work with The Corn Exchange includes Death and The Ploughman, translated by Michael West (co-production with Comédie de Reims), Big Bad Woolf, The Seagull, translated by Michael West, and Lolita (co-production with the Abbey), for which she won Best Supporting Actress, Irish Times Theatre Awards, 2002.

Andrew Bennett
Willie
Andrew's previous work with The Corn Exchange includes Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Everyday, The Birthday Party Show, Lolita, Streetcar, Big Bad Woolf, Car Show, The Seagull and Michael West's one-man play, Foley. Andrew's performances at the Abbey and Peacock Theatres include A Month in the Country, Fool for Love, Homeland, The Importance of Being Earnest, The Playboy of the Western World (national and US tour), Translations, The House, Good Evening Mr Collins, Sour Grapes, The Electrocution of Children, The Marriage of Figaro, Tarry Flynn, Saint Joan, The Rivals, The Map Maker's Sorrow and Tartuffe. Other theatre work includes The Playboy of the Western World (Druid-UK Tour), The Tinker's Curse and Conversations On A Homecoming (Livin' Dred), Family Stories (b*spoke), Beckett's Ghosts directed by Jason Byrne, What Where, Medea Material, Early Morning (Bedrock), Landscape with Argonauts, The Spanish Tragedy, The White Devil (Loose Canon), We Ourselves (Passion Machine), Words of Advice for Young People (Rough Magic) and Mac-Beth 7 (Pan-Pan). Film and television work includes: Savage, Zonad, Garage, Prosperity, The General, David Copperfield, Alaska, Little White Lies, This Is Night Live, Pure Mule, The Clinic, Proof, Paths to Freedom, Salt Water, Angela's Ashes and Trí Scéal.

Annie Ryan
Director
Annie Ryan is a director, actor and teacher based in Dublin. Originally from Chicago, Annie trained in acting at the Piven Theatre Workshop and New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. She was part of New Crime Productions in Chicago in the early '90s, where she was introduced to the style of Commedia dell'Arte that has become the trademark of The Corn Exchange. Productions include Freefall by Michael West (Best Director Irish Theatre Awards 2009) Streetcar, Big Bad Woolf, Baby Jane, The Seagull, Car Show (Judges Award Irish Theatre Awards 1998), Foley by Michael West, Lolita, Mud by María Irene Fornés (Best Production Irish Theatre Awards 2003), Dublin By Lamplight (Best Ensemble, The Stage, Edinburgh) and Everyday, both by Michael West in collaboration with the company, and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof for the 2008 Dublin Theatre Festival. Outside of The Corn Exchange, Annie directed Rudolf The Red for the Ark, Come And Go for the Beckett Festival at the Gate and the Barbican, and Fool For Love by Sam Shepard for The Abbey Theatre. She is a board member of the Dublin Fringe Festival. Annie participated as Acting Mentor in Mira Nair's Maisha Film Lab 2008 in Kampala, Uganda.

The Corn Exchange Theatre Company
The Priory Building, John Street West, Dublin 8, Ireland

http://www.cornexchange.ie.

The Corn Exchange is one of Ireland's most acclaimed Contemporary Theatre companies. Founded in Dublin 1995 by Chicago born artistic director Annie Ryan, to explore various techniques of physical theatre, the main focus of the work is ensemble-based improvisation and a renegade form of Commedia dell'Arte, which came via chinese whispers from Mnouchkine's Théâtre De Soleil to LA's Actors' Gang to New Crime in Chicago to Dublin. The company's productions seek to explode the truth of a story in ways that thrill and inspire audiences at home and abroad.
The Corn Exchange has toured to Australia, USA, UK, France, the Netherlands and Germany. Award-winning productions include: Dublin by Lamplight (Best Ensemble Stage Awards Edinbugh, Argus Angel Award), Mud (Best Production Irish Times Irish Theatre Awards), Lolita (Best Actress Irish Theatre Awards), Car Show (Judges Award Irish Theatre Awards, Cultural Inspiration Award); Foley, and Everyday.

The Corn Exchange provides professional training for actors, and for businesses through its unique leadership programme. The Corn Exchange is associated with Randolf SD | The Company, who are presenting Ellamenope Jones in Project Nov/Dec 2010.

The Corn Exchange is funded by The Arts Council of Ireland, Dublin City Council and Culture Ireland.

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