Miriam Gillinson
posted 5 February 2008

Lucinda Coxon’s Happy Now? makes a strong attempt to scratch beneath the surface of middle-class contentment. Though the foundations are laid for an uncomfortable exploration, this play shies away from the scarier stuff in favour of entertainment. Entertain it does, but pushed further Happy Now? could be important, liberating stuff.

The opening is promising: we’re at a charity convention, where Olivia Williams’ likeable Cancer Research rep Kitty comes across Stanley Townsend’s exquisitely twinkly Michael from Age Concern. The two spark well off each other and against the odds create a warm, sexy on-stage energy. Michael tells Kitty that one day she will sleep with him; that her ordered life will crumble and he’ll be there for her, when no-one or nothing else is. It is Michael’s voice that pushes this play forward, his dark prophesies threaded between most scenes.

From this stage on though, the play gets a little too comfortable. At times, it comes close to Notting Hill: couple number two enters the scene, with bitter comedy man Dominic and his crushed wife Emily. Happy Now? really tracks the disintegration of these two relationships, as well as the more romantic experiences between gay best-friend Carl and his off-stage lover.

The relationships fall apart gracefully and it’s all good fun to watch. Still, I’m not sure what marks this piece for stage rather than screen. Coxon certainly has a sharp wit and Dominic Rowan’s Miles is gifted some great quips. But though Rowan’s character is funny, he’s never quite real. This applies to the majority of roles here and as a result, the key relationship between Kitty and Johnny never comes to life. It’s a shame because we get pretty close – but we just don’t spend enough quiet time with these characters to be affected when their worlds fall apart.

Sharrock’s smart directing means the play rumbles along at a nice pace, with the revolving set used to clever effect. Olivia Williams handles the comic stuff with great gusto and though she doesn’t nail her part, the scenes with convention-man Michael are strong, touching and sad. Theirs is the relationship I’ll take away from this play: watching these two lonely adults squeal over a pillow fight felt real and strangely comforting. Anne Reid as Kitty’s mother also found something deeper here and her loneliness and anger blasted through the audience. Still, I can’t shake the feeling that I left happier now than perhaps I should have been.