As laugh out loud funny, as it is thought provoking!
Happy Ending Street is as laugh out loud funny, as it is a gripping exploration of what freedom means within patriarchy (and it is pretty damn funny). Set in 1890s Edinburgh, three sex workers Bonnie, Frances and Pearl (Jenna Stones, Breagha Sturrock, Lucia Ireland) endeavour to escape their profession, their city, and their fear amidst an ever growing cultural apathy to their lives.
As the debut show of DollsnRags production, Happy Ending Street deftly juggles the constant joking you’d expect out of three best friends in a tough job, with the more harrowing and introspective drama. The cast have an unmistakable chemistry between them that oozes into every scene. I could very happily enjoy the play if it was just a comedy about three roommates ala Friends but actually funny and with Victorian sex workers, and that dynamic is definitely at play here. What really makes this play a stand out on it’s own and an exciting debut is how the comedy draws you into it’s deeper, darker themes. All the ribbing on who charges what, who fancies who, is just cover for how scared they are of the serial killer prowling the streets.
The ‘Hen Catcher’ becomes the personification of how scared they all are, serial killer or not. {We work or else we die, but we work and die anyway} as Frances says in an early scene. As they three grapple with this new (or not so new) threat they argue about what they want to do. Run away, fight, or cower are all options but Pearl’s (played by Lucia Ireland) reluctance to merely run away creates tension and forces them to comprehend what freedom means, and how do you fight for it. The fear the Hen Catcher presents serves as a clever device to engage with the double sided fear of gendered violence under patriarchy. A threat of murder only makes it clear how their lives have been slowly strangled already by a society that consumes their sexuality and then condemns them for it, making liberation in their line of work hard to come by. HES has my favourite combo down, it’ll beat you down with a charming and funny cast then strangle you with a gripping & moving script. The fact that it’s a debut means things can only get better, or at least I’m willing to bet on that.
(Happy Ending Street runs until 9th August at 5-5.50pm at 324 Leith Arches. Tickets here: https://www.edfringe.com/tickets/whats-on/happy-ending-street)