On the Other Hand, We’re Happy was written by the Welsh playwright Daf James and first made a splash at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Now Rogue Machine has mounted the American premiere of the play and we are all the better for it.
Rogue Machine, operating out of the Matrix Theatre, has gone all out to showcase James’ work in worthy fashion. First it reconfigured the Matrix itself, placing the audience on each side of the oblong stage and seating everyone close to the actors, an important tactical decision for such a small, intimate drama. Then Rogue Machine hired one of L.A. finest directors, Cameron Watson, to oversee the production, Watson, in turn, hired three superb actors to play multiple roles and bring the action to empathetic life.
On the Other Hand is a story about the joys and travails of adoption. The bare bones of the plot can be summed up thusly: a young couple, Josh (Christian Telesmar) and Abbie (Rori Flynn), decide they want to marry and have a child. Problem is, Josh has low-sperm problems and can’t make Abbie pregnant. They make another difficult decision to adopt Tyler (Alexandra Hellquist), a five-year-old from a troubled family (drugs, alcohol, abuse). But when Abbie dies in a car crash, the social worker decides to give the child to another family, sending Josh into a depression. A year later he is given another chance to adopt Tyler and he raises her as best he can. Ultimately the grown-up Tyler must face a host of problems, one of which involves facing her birth mother, the woman who gave her up.
In telling that story, the play goes back and forth in time, with the actors having to keep up with changes that happen swiftly and suddenly. With just a tinkle of music and a subtle light change, a new scene commences and the actor must age or regress on the spot, in instantaneous fashion. The demands on the actors are enormous, but Flynn, Hellquist and Telesman prove time and time again that they are up to the challenge. Each of them gives a virtuosic performance that deserves the highest praise.
On the Other Hand, We’re Happy goes into some very dark places. Each of the three characters must face their demons mercilessly, but it is to the playwright’s credit that he can also find humor in the anguish and tears …and make the audience laugh at loud. James also often breaks the fourth wall and has the actors speak directly to the audience and invite them to comment on the action. It serves to bind onlookers and performers in a tight, warm, deeply communal circle.
