“Happy Coupling” – currently on a South Island tour in celebration of the Court Theatre’s 35th Birthday, is well worth a celebration of its own after last nights sell out performance ensured there was not a straight face left in the theatre.
Playwright Ross Gumbley says the play was influenced by a real story of an awfully embarrassing stag night which made him explore the strange traditions of pre-matrimonial humiliation, which he “lays down” brilliantly in Happy Coupling.
Digby is getting married in the morning, but a “naked flame” that brother Eddie has been “keeping in his wardrobe” since he broke up with Digby’s fiancé Mandy sends the night into turmoil, as she battles with over-zealous bridesmaids and whether their dresses are charcoal or black. Eddie could really do with a couple of “aspirins on an ironing board” after an experience with party pills that didn’t go so well, and Digby keeps digging himself deeper into his own hole.
What will happen to Digby and Mandy? Is she just playing Twister at the altar? Can Gazza and Sylvia keep things “under the rug” with carpet layer Aaron Adams on the job?
From serious to silly, this side-splitting comedy is definantly not to be missed. Congratulations to the Court Theatre for another outstanding performance.
