Happy Family

Giles Cooper

Deborah Solstice: Sarah Taylor
Mark, her brother: David Darby
Susan, her sister: Pam Thompson
Gregory Butler: Stan Harbidge
Synospis Giles Cooper died in 1966 when he was 48. He was a compulsive writer from an early age and he crammed an enormous amount of plays for radio, TV and the theatre into his writing life; (he adapted the 'Maigret' stories for the 1960's television series.) A Solstice is an "apparent standing still of the sun between two equinoxes". The Solstice family of Giles Cooper's ironically titled 'Happy Family' is not a fanciful invention. We all know people who are apparently standing still in their attitudes; who have failed to grow up. All 4 of the characters arguably have arrested development. Certainly they want to play only to their own set of rules. There are terrible dangers of course, in refusing to come to terms with the present and with one's own self. At it s most pessimistic 'Happy Family' hints that we are all more or less unequal to those realities. But closer to the play's comic overtness, Cooper observes through the Solstices, the sort of fossilised Englishness Family with it's ludicrousness, desirability and danger all at the same time. It is black gruesome and very precise.:
The Production Team Stage Manager Tina Warrington & Val Culm Properties Val Rushworth Judy Pratt Prompt Annette Ayres Lighting & Sound Clive Holland Martin Day Set Design Val Culm Set Construction Christine Jackson & Group Members Front of House Kathleen Ready:
Stage Manager: Tina Warrington
& Val Culm
Properties: Val Rushworth
Judy Pratt
Prompt: Annette Ayres
Lighting & Sound: Clive Holland
Martin Day
Set Design: Val Culm
Set Construction: Christine Jackson
& Group Members
Front of House: Kathleen Ready

Richard Miller

Produced & Directed by Richard Miller The Cast (in order of appearance) Deborah Solstice Sarah Taylor Mark, her brother David Darby Susan, her sister Pam Thompson Gregory Butler Stan Harbidge The action of the play takes place in Debororah's cottage in Huntingdonshire on a Friday afternoon and evening in the spring of 1961. There is one interval of 15 minutes between the acts.:
Deborah Solstice: Sarah Taylor
Mark, her brother: David Darby
Susan, her sister: Pam Thompson
Gregory Butler: Stan Harbidge
Synospis Giles Cooper died in 1966 when he was 48. He was a compulsive writer from an early age and he crammed an enormous amount of plays for radio, TV and the theatre into his writing life; (he adapted the 'Maigret' stories for the 1960's television series.) A Solstice is an "apparent standing still of the sun between two equinoxes". The Solstice family of Giles Cooper's ironically titled 'Happy Family' is not a fanciful invention. We all know people who are apparently standing still in their attitudes; who have failed to grow up. All 4 of the characters arguably have arrested development. Certainly they want to play only to their own set of rules. There are terrible dangers of course, in refusing to come to terms with the present and with one's own self. At it s most pessimistic 'Happy Family' hints that we are all more or less unequal to those realities. But closer to the play's comic overtness, Cooper observes through the Solstices, the sort of fossilised Englishness Family with it's ludicrousness, desirability and danger all at the same time. It is black gruesome and very precise.:
Stage Manager: Tina Warrington
& Val Culm
Properties: Val Rushworth
Judy Pratt
Prompt: Annette Ayres
Lighting & Sound: Clive Holland
Martin Day
Set Design: Val Culm
Set Construction: Christine Jackson
& Group Members
Front of House: Kathleen Ready