Theatre Royal, Windsor – until Saturday 17th May 2025
Reviewed by Carly
4****
Windsor brings you (This is not a) Happy Room, a new play by Rosie Day, directed by Hannah Price.
It’s tells the story of the three Henderson siblings, who are meeting up in Blackpool at a hotel function room that has seen better days, for their father’s third wedding in which they feel will be just as unsuccessful as all the others.
One by one they begin to arrive at the venue and its clear to see that their relationships seem somewhat fractured.
You have Laura (Andrea Valls) the eldest daughter, who brings along her long suffering husband Charles (Tom Canji) and their newborn daughter along for the ride, or should I say rollercoaster seeing as they’re in Blackpool! She’s a successful Human Rights lawyer, who’s used to being in control!
Then arrives Simon (Declan Baxter) the brother who’s a hypochondriac who believes he’s going to die and insists all his issues are medically documented although his family believes otherwise.
The last of the siblings to arrive is Elle (Rosie Day). She’s a successful actress that has flown in from LA and seems to be the wild child out of the three, who’s harbouring her own dark secrets!
The last to arrive being their Mum Esther (Amanda Abbington) wife No 1 who is purely there to stick her oar in and to let the new wife know she should “run whilst she can”, using the excuse of driving the Grooms Aunt Agatha (Alison Liney) to the wedding. Agatha likes to chat about their dad’s life growing up exposing secrets from his past, as well as forgetting about the present time and why she’s actually there!
But as the day goes on there seems to be no sign of the Bride and Groom! With everyone now complaining that it’s just typical of their fathers character to be late for his own wedding rehearsal dinner. Only for them to find out the devastating news that their father has been in a terrible car crash and has passed away!
Now leaving them the only option of not wasting the venue but instead turning it into his memorial telling guests on their arrival!!
All their hidden secrets and repressed memories and feelings combined together create a funny yet honest portrayal of the dynamics of family life.
The cast done exceptionally well with such an eray of complicated characters, moving seamlessly from quiet serious moments and topics to light humour.
The stage was simple yet effective of a hotel function room with minor changes to signify the move from wedding to memorial service.
All in all a very complexed play that’s well worth a watch.