Happy Days are here again as Beckett festival returns

THE second Happy Days International Beckett Festival, devoted to Irish literary giant, Samuel Beckett, is on this week in Enniskillen. Beckett lived in the Fermanagh town during his teenage years, when he was a boarding student at Portora Royal School.

The festival has two new productions of Beckett’s seminal play, Endgame, the first by daring Sligo company, Blue Raincoat, the second by acclaimed Australians, Wit’s End. Elsewhere, the festival examines the inspiration the Dublin writer took from his favourite literary work, Dante’s The Divine Comedy, with excursions to the local Marble Arch Caves and Lough Erne for site-specific performances of Dante’s text.

In addition, there are art-installations by Robert Wilson, Neil Jordan, Tomoko Mukaiyama and Jean Kalman, all free to the public, and guest speakers including Clive James and Frank Skinner. Alan Milligan’s bronze sculptures of a 32-piece chess set, based on images from Beckett’s work, will be on show throughout the town.