Happy Ending continues at the Arcola Theatre, London. Picture: Piers Foley
Happy Ending continues at the Arcola Theatre, London until 7 March.
Star rating: 4 stars ****
Famous theatre star Carrie Evans has cancer. Upon arriving at the oncology clinic, she meets other patients who all teach her their ways of coping and help her find her own way of dealing with her illness.
At first, Carrie (Gillian Kirkpatrick) turns her nose up at the hospital garments and lack of private room, but is soon brought back down to earth by her three companions. Miki (Karen Archer) is a hippie who sees her cancer as a gift, Silvia (Andrea Miller) is a holocaust survivor who will keep fighting no matter what, and Sarah (Thea Beyleveld) is a young Jewish Orthodox mother of six who relies on her faith for her healing.
The play’s writer Anat Gov, who sadly passed away from cancer in 2012, said in an interview: “I wish mainly to discuss the subject – to say the word ‘cancer’ without being afraid. I’m very disturbed by the fact that newspapers, for example, write ‘a serious illness’ and don’t write ‘cancer’.”
Gov has successfully taken a heavy topic and turned it into a beautifully written comedy that makes the audience confront mortality and takes them through a range of emotions (the original Hebrew has been adapted by Hilla Bar and the production’s director Guy Retallack). The writer has also demonstrated her need to have even the slightest control over her life, however long she might have.
The whole cast is fantastic and succeeds effortlessly in keeping the upbeat atmosphere that the women in the ward strive to maintain. The members of the hospital staff reflect the experiences that are known to many, Nurse Fiona (Jodie Jacobs) is a cheerful nurse who the women can all depend on, but Dr Lynch is the attractive doctor who appears cold to his patients but really has their best interests at heart. No matter how dark the topic becomes on stage, the actors treat the subject as Gov intended and the comedy is flawless.
I wouldn’t necessarily call this show a musical, as there are only a few songs (written by Shlomi Shaban and Michal Solomon) sporadically spread throughout the evening. The songs do feel slightly out of place and they don’t assist the storyline. The issue with not having live music is that the accompaniment can drown out the actors and so the lyrics often get lost.
Of course, it takes a lot of guts to turn cancer into a comedy, but the power of the script – along with the way the actors present it – results in every decision being treated with such taste that it is so enjoyable to watch.
Tal Fox
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