Review: (THIS IS NOT A) HAPPY ROOM at King’s Head Theatre

Date: 17th April 2025

Stars: 3

Rosie Day’s (This Is Not a) Happy Room starts with balloons and ends with emotional body blows – which feels pretty on brand for any family wedding-turned-funeral, really. In a Blackpool function room lined with taffeta and tension, three siblings arrive expecting their dad’s next ill-fated wedding, only to be greeted by a coffin and the unwelcome return of their estranged mother.

What unfolds is an hour and a half of fizzing one-liners, tantrums, booze-fuelled truth bombs, and some surprisingly tender moments – all played out like the world’s weirdest wake. It’s brash, bold, and a little bonkers.

Amanda Abbington as the brittle, boozy mother Esther is exactly what you’d hope for: acidic, fragile, and with just enough softness to make the sharp bits cut deeper. You get the sense that if this woman ever hugged you, you’d flinch first – and somehow that’s a compliment.

Rosie Day, pulling double duty as writer and youngest sibling Elle, gives her character a magnetic kind of chaos, while Jonny Weldon (Simon) and Andrea Valls (Laura) round out the dysfunctional trio with performances that feel lived-in and loud in exactly the right ways. There’s also a hilarious, scene-stealing turn from Jazz Jenkins as Hayley, who clearly walked in from a different (possibly reality TV) show entirely.

Now, the script doesn’t always hit its emotional beats squarely – a couple of the reveals come in a little too hot and fast to land with full force – but it’s never boring. There’s a lot going on, maybe too much at times, but you’d be lying if you said you weren’t entertained.

And that’s really the crux of it: (This Is Not a) Happy Room is messy and noisy and chaotic – just like the family it’s portraying. But it’s also heartfelt, clever, and full of painfully relatable moments. If you’ve ever silently screamed into a paper napkin at a family event, this one’s for you.

Catch it at the King’s Head Theatre before April 27 — just don’t expect a quiet night out. Tickets available here: https://kingsheadtheatre.com/whats-on/14/by-rosie-day/this-is-not-a-happy-room