Fiona Shaw returns to the National to play Winnie, a woman buried up to her waist. She is woken by a piercing bell and chatters away as she rummages through her bag, brushes her teeth and finds her revolver. Occasionally her husband responds to her.

Happy Days returns to the Lyttelton 31 years after it was first show to be seen there.

Two times Laurence Olivier Award-winner Shaw has previously worked at the National in The Prime Of Miss Jean Brodie, Richard II, The PowerBook, and Machinal.