Winnie and Willie are in the middle of a bare and desolate plain. Winnie, sunk up to her waist in a mound of earth into which she is gradually sinking, passes another “happy day” between the sound of the bell for waking and the bell for sleep, indulging in a daily repetition of actions, in a routine that she follows with ceremonial reverence. She talks incessantly, quotes from the classics, brushes her teeth, mumbles half-forgotten prayers… Time passes tortuously and Willie behind her, an almost invisible figure, remains silent, the sole recipient of her endless monologue.

It is a mythic work and an enormous challenge for the actor, a landmark of western culture written in a language that is uniquely clear and elliptical.