Review: (This is Not a) Happy Room, King’s Head Theatre

Families, eh? What are they like?

Well, it’s a question that’s been pondered for generations and spawned many an artistic endeavour. After all, most of us spend our formative years in their company, either nestling in a haven of loving support or climbing up the walls in frustration at the people we’ve been lumbered in with without our consent. Rosie Day’s play joins a long line of family dramas from the pens of titans such as Chekhov and Alan Ayckbourn, and even references that affectionate poem Philip Larkin wrote about his Mum and Dad.

Three siblings arrive to attend the rehearsal for the latest wedding of their father – technically the third rather than the fourth because he ended up not marrying “the teenager”. Lawyer Laura (Andrea Valls) has a new baby and a hen-pecked husband Charles (Tom Kanji Rosie), youngest Ellie (Day) is a semi-successful film actress, and nobody knows what Simon (Jonny Weldon) does for a living, but they’re all pretty sure his dark glasses and walking stick are hypochondriac affectations rather than genuine medical necessities.

Also present is dotty Aunt Agatha (mature stage debutante Alison Liney) who wanders amiably on and off throughout the play, getting a laugh from every brief appearance.

Designer Georgia de Grey has created an admirably realistic kitsch wedding venue set for the characters to bicker in as familiar dysfunctional relationships are established. As they needle each other in the way that siblings do, there are plenty of sharp one-liners and the audience are clearly enjoying the badinage.

The arrival of the kids’ mother Esther (Amanda Abbington) turns the temperature up a notch. Abbington has an assured stage presence and is good value as a mother who is emotionally invested in her children’s happiness – but only within limits.

Tragically, the groom dies in a car crash on the way to the rehearsal, but the family decide the booked venue and the expected arrival of the larger clan make this the ideal scenario for a remembrance ceremony instead. Cue comic eulogies including Ellie reciting the lyrics of the Bee Gees’ ‘Tragedy’. Not sure how we got there, but given the same play earlier featured a ritual involving ‘Agadoo’ complete with dance routine, I suppose there’s a certain consistency in the writer’s methods.

(This is not a) Happy Room is funny, well-paced and ably directed by Hannah Price. The plotting is tight and includes a genuinely gasp-worthy revelation that really sets the cat among the pigeons, delivered by Abbington with impeccable timing. If the knockabout tone of the production doesn’t quite support a late swerve into emotional depth, there’s certainly enough familiar fun that the play earns its place in the tradition it follows.

Families, eh?

Written by: Rosie Day
Directed by: Hannah Price
Produced by: Katy Galloway
Sound Design by: Adrienne Quartly
Lighting Design by: Rory Beaton
Set and Costume Design by: Georgia de Grey

(This is Not a) Happy Room plays at King’s Head Theatre until Sunday 27 April.