Andi Snelling, creator and performer of Happy-Go-Wrong, enters the fortyfivedownstairs theatre, cavernously bare in its current iteration, as a one-woman light show on skates. Vivid, eat your heart out.Â
Happy-Go-Wrong hails from the fringe festival circuit and has all the hallmarks of a one-woman fringe show: the use of blackout voiceovers to provide Snelling with a reprieve, low-cost but effective sets and costume, audience participation, dramatic renditions of pop songs and full frontal nudity. But the space of fortyfivedownstairs, in the way Snelling has constructed it, is unforgiving.
There’s an uncomfortably large physical and emotional distance between the audience and Snelling. Her performance isn’t doing nearly enough to fill the theatre. In the absence of heart, the befuddled message of the production is exposed.
There’s somewhat of a narrative through line: a French angel has come to Earth to communicate the meaning of life and death to Andi and us, the audience. Woven through this are moments of movement, clowning and voiceovers. There’s a lot of tonal differences in the production that don’t work together, but rather cause confusion. On the topic of existentialism, the clearest idea Snelling gives us is that being alive is great. On the topic of chronic illness, the latter half of the show provides a few crystallised ideas: chronic pain is painful, society doesn’t understand chronic illness and ‘when things go this wrong they have to be right’, which is an idea that may well rankle many people with chronic illnesses similar to Snelling’s.Â
Read: Theatre review: Coriolanus, The Neilson Nutshell
Happy-Go-Wrong is in its ninth season and boy does it show. Snelling’s performance as the French angel is hammy and the production feels generally over-rehearsed up until the last 10 minutes, when finally the distance between performer and audience is closed and Snelling showcases brief moments of heart-wrenching vulnerability.
With not an insignificant amount of five-star reviews and fringe festival awards, it’s easy to sit through this production and think, ‘what am I missing?’ – but the gentle snores of an audience member seated beside this reviewer suggests Happy-Go-Wrong is simply not hitting the same notes it did on the festival circuit for some people.Â
Happy-Go-Wrong
fortyfivedownstairs, Melbourne
Created, Performed and Produced by Andi Snelling
Original Development Direction: Danielle Cresp
Dramaturgical Support: Fiona Scott-Norman
Sound: Caleb Garfinkel
Lighting: Sidney Younger
Tech/Stage Manager: Jacinta Anderson
Production Support: Ezel Doruk
Tickets: $35-$45
The Melbourne season of Happy-Go-Wrong runs until 29 June 2025.
