★ ★ ★ ★

Reviewer - Becky

*Disclaimer: Gifted tickets in return for an honest review

Please note: contains themes of addiction, abuse and suicide.

Happy Hour is a drama comedy play written by Andy Walker, surrounding the character of Jacqui (Stacha Hicks), a woman plagued by an internal demon named George (Derek Murphy). George is an elusive presence within Jacqui’s life, only there to tempt her into the depths of a dangerous drinking habit. She needs to break free or risk a vicious, endless cycle of alcohol consumption that could ultimately kill her.

With a story that can hit quite close to home for many, Hicks brings Jacqui to life with an emotional yet comedic performance. We sympathize yet feel frustration whilst we watch her character descend into the depths of her relationship with drinking down the pub. We're rooting for her to give it up as much as we hate the road she could go down. Murphy is the true devil on your shoulder role, the voice of bad choices. He does an excellent job of being charming and tempting Jacqui into doing things she knows she shouldn’t. His line delivery is witty and his voice really fills the room for good and bad reasons.

Ellie Philpott also brings a dynamic energy to the stage with her role as Rosie, Jacqui’s long tolerating daughter among other roles. Another character we can sympathize if not empathize with, she does an excellent job at portraying her true want for her mother to recover from alcoholism but still remains stern and being the motherly figure she seemed to never have growing up.

The set doesn’t change, which is likely a good representation of what Jacqui only ever sees. She’s only ever confined to the four walls of either her home or the pub. Lighting (Eduardo Strike) is used very cleverly to represent night and day and to also bring forth some major hallucinations with George. Sound could probably have a little more thought put into it, only for the fact that some of the sounds seemed to be just stock sounds that have definitely been used before, but this could likely be to add comedic effect, it just took you out of the act at times.

Certain scenes were tough to watch, again due to the fact that they could really hit close to home for many of us. These scenes were delivered well and subtly when needed, nothing was ever too much or too explicit. Less was definitely more in the case for scenes that depicted things of the more harsh variety.

Happy Hour tackles an extremely tough subject with respect and delivers an emotional piece of work. It takes an imaginative and creative route to convey the struggles of an everyday person going through a very common struggle. Be prepared to go on a rollercoaster with the characters in this show.