THEATRE REVIEW: Happy Families at Rotherham Civic

Rotherham Rep put family life in the spotlight in their latest show - but our critic Adele Forrest finds the title may not tell the full story
By Adele Forrest
Published 13th Jun 2019, 10:41 GMT
Updated 13th Jun 2019, 11:59 GMT

A MICROSCOPIC look at suburban family life with an array of familiar characters came to the Civic this week.

Rotherham Rep’s production of John Godber’s autobiographical play, Happy Families, opened on Tuesday for a four-night run.

It brings with it a lot of knowing laughs from the audience and a few sniffles as the grandmother (Rosie Burke) succumbsto old age.

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    It’s a sweet, slow-moving play which captures a young man’s frustration at being molly-coddled by his interfering family.

    The narrative follows Jon (Anthony Lancashire) from boyhood to adulthood over the 1960s and 1970s and tells of his stresses and strains of family life.

    Lancashire moves between the different ages well, using his physicality to express Jon maturing. 

    He jumps back and forth from narration as the other characters “freeze” in time and makes for a captivating protagonist who never faults. 

    Lancashires’s delivery is powerful and his character’s mounting frustration becomes palpable towards the end.

    Pressure is place on only-child Jon by his family, particularly by his tyrant mum (Elaine Demaine), to do well at school and outperform his cousin. 

    His granddad (Roger Hazelwood), however, has different plans for Jon and tries to steer him away from a career in drama as he doesn’t want him to turn out a “Nancy”.

    The family slowly starts to unravel over time after the death of their grandmother, whose deterioration is captured well by Burke.

    The second act is more a case of Unhappy Families — the plot slows in the second half as the grief-stricken family cope with their loss. 

    But there are still laughs supplied by dizzy aunt Doris, warmly played by Leah Calf, and spritely grandad Hazelwood, who rolls his sleeves up and dances round the stage looking for a sparring partner when family tensions hit a high. 

    All that onstage arguing is headache-inducing stuff, though!

    This is a sweet, inoffensive play which many people will be able to recognise their own family members in. 

    The up-close look of banal family life (Think Royle Family) is very well-acted by the entire cast, with a touch of The Archers about it.

    Happy Families is at the Civic until tomorrow (Friday). Click here for tickets.