The Misfortunes of Happy
SONIA SARFATI
English version by Deirdre Mogan

The character is called Happy and he lives up to his name:  he knows how to see the good side, even when things are bad.  The production is also called Happy.  And it is not a study of happiness.  This new creation by Ronnie Burkett, sorcerer of the marionette, is presented at l'Usine C until May 13.

Happy  premiered just a few days ago in Toronto.  We can, of course, sense the newness, but not, mind you, in the expertise of Ronnie Burkett!  It's impossible to avoid immediately falling under the spell of his marionettes which he brings to life with the touch of his fingers.  In fact, they are so rivetting that we completely forget about his presence, even if he is always there on stage, in plain sight.  And when, by chance, we do glance in his direction, we recognize in him the tenderness of a father and the sensuality of a lover as he gazes at, touches, moves the old women and men, the dogs and cats, the young woman and the cabaret crooners. 

The problem with Happy  - and it's not irreparable - is in the text.

Intelligent, often lucid, highly sensitive and conveying waves of emotion the text is also, in sections, extremely dense.  (By the way, you really have to understand English well to truly enjoy the production's abundance of poetry and humour).  The scenario contains overly long passages, particularly towards the end when, after two hours of performance, including several dramatic crescendos, the creator repeatedly give the impression that the work is concluding.  Too often, the period becomes suspension points and the text continues.

Maybe Ronnie Burkett wants to tell us too much, considering that he already has so much to show us!

As a result, the production suffers from a comparison with Tinka's New Dress  - which came to us after 4 years of performances and tours - and with Old Friends , a show that was also more developed when it landed last year on the stage of the Maison ThÈ‚tre, like a bit of manna from heaven, positively overwhelming our young spectators with wonder.

There are several similarities between the two previous productions and Happy.  In all cases, memories preoccupy the characters.  The memories belong to those with tired bodies, ravaged faces, and white or thinning hair.  But there the comparisons end because the earlier productions conveyed a nostalgia made up of tenderness and little joys, while Happy  focuses on the moments in life that leave a bitter taste in your mouth and lodge pangs of distress in your heart. 

Happy  is a work of immense sadness.

The Albertan creator and performer, founder of the Ronnie Burkett Theatre of Marionettes from Calgary, is accompanied this time by an assistant, allowing him to move around the set more efficiently and to be less preoccupied with the behind-the-scenes manipulation of the marionettes.  He presents us with Happy in his old age, a carefree veteran without problems (or so we think, in our ignorance), a man who is surrounded by friends, both young and old, drowning in distress.

First there's Carla, so in love with words and with Drew.  Words fail her when Drew dies in her arms.  She denies it, she rants and raves, she blames herself.  She can neither accept the death, nor mourn for her love who departed too soon.  And then, there are the other inhabitants of the small rooming house where Happy lives.  Old Raymond, with his plastic shoes and his irritating helpfulness.  Old Lucille, who's never at a loss for words.  The gay couple.  One character's dog, another one's cat.  All those interrupted life stories, those wrong turns in the road, those bad habits.  Those mistakes.

Ronnie Burkett unveils, one by one, each of these lives.  He opens the cupboards, closes them again, sometimes gently, sometimes with a thunder clap.  The last image in Carla's story is not easily forgotten.  From time to time, he lets in a breath of fresh air with the acts presented in the Grief Cabaret - a stage of sorrow situated in a grey zone between two worlds.  It's a place where everything is grey, including the people and their clothes, where sadness is expressed in song, pantomime, burlesque.

Yes, there are a few laughs in the cabaret.  There are also some in the principal tale.  But we don't come out of Happy  feeling happy.  We come out torn between the fascination provoked by the work of Ronnie Burkett and the sympathy aroused by the burden of destiny that crushes the frail creatures he manipulates.

* * *

HAPPY, created and performed by Ronnie Burkett.

Music:  Cathy 

Nosaty.  Lighting:  Bill Williams. 

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