BY NAOMI DENNY
A finalist for the Tony Craze Award and the debut full-length play by writer and actor Naomi Denny, All The Happy Things is a dark comedy about the powerful bond shared by siblings and the complexities of grief, told through a Global Majority lens. The production premieres at Soho Theatre on 9 April (preview: 8 April) before transferring to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe (venue and further details to be announced).
Sienna is trying to deal with her grief by clinging on tightly to what she knows – in short, she’s seeing her dead sister everywhere she goes. As Emily’s presence becomes more and more overwhelming, the line between happiness and delusion becomes more and more blurred. How do you truly let go of someone when you imagined they’d be there forever?
Naomi Denny: “I wanted to write about loss but I didn’t want to write a sad story. So, All the Happy Things is a play about finding the light in the dark. It is about the silliness, the unique language, the shared memories that you have with your sibling. The characters are influenced by – although not based on! – my sister and me, and echo the experience of so many of us who have siblings: we bicker, we fight, but we love each other so much we can’t bear to let the other go.
It means so much for this show to premiere at Soho Theatre – where I wrote it five years ago whilst working Front of House. It feels like such a full circle moment that the audiences I once ushered into these spaces will now come to see the show that I’ve written. I want these audiences to leave the show wanting to call their siblings; to laugh, to cry, to be moved – and above all, to appreciate all the happy things that come with having a sibling.”
NEED TO KNOW: All The Happy Things Plays at Soho Theatre 21 Dean Street, London, W1D 3NE from 8 April to 26 April 2025
- Black out performance: Wednesday 16 April at 6.45pm
- Post-show Q&A: Saturday 26 April after matinee
