An almost brilliant show challenging traditional narratives about sex workers
Based on the experiences of two women, Cameron Corcoran’s Happy Ending recounts the experiences of a sex worker named Ariel (Helena Harrison). The show is a tight 50 minutes. Evidently modelled on shows like Fleabag, Happy Ending is a one-woman show about a complex female character. Whilst I don’t think it breaks the theatrical mould when it comes to one woman shows, I admire the ethos of the show as it strives against tired, objectifying tropes and it puts the sex worker in the centre of the story. It is fundamentally a show about her humanity, the complexity of her work, and about how choices one makes early on can shape their life.
A one-woman show lives and dies on the strength of its performer and Harrison’s performance is everything you want. As the sole actor she is bright, dynamic and captivating on stage. She is funny and heartbreaking in equal measure. Some credit for this must naturally be given to director Anastasia Bunce. I particularly appreciated her use of the space, Harrison leapt across the stage, truly transforming into different characters.
Corcoran’s script is by no means bad but doesn’t necessarily work for me the entire time. The show is short, and therefore has to stay fairly surface level, it felt as though I’ve seen this show before. I appreciated that the show was based on real women, and really enjoyed the fact that it was funny as well as serious. Whilst I found the metaphor about Disney Princesses a little trite, the metaphor about the wallpaper was great. The ending was sharp and effective, though would have possibly been more effective had I not read the blurb before the show.
The design of the show was simple and I wish it had been a little more memorable. Some bolder colours in the set/costume design would have been great. The sound cues sometimes felt jarring as opposed to effectively building out the world.
Happy Ending is a solid show, but there are moments that would have been more successful had there been more subtlety. In the pre-fringe season, there are no shortage of one-person shows with interesting concepts and stripped back visuals. In order to stand out one needs to do something radically different and/or flawlessly executed. With small edits to the script and more dynamic design I think the show has a great deal of potential to be great as opposed to just good.