The descent into the performance space at fortyfivedownstairs is always impressive, finding your seat around a sometimes arresting, always intriguing set design. With Happy-Go-Wrong, we make our way alongside large coils of brown paper. Not strewn, as they are twisted in piles sitting in haze.
What this sepia-toned set needs is a splash of colour and it soon arrives – on wheels. Lucky, played by Andi Snelling, is our guardian angel, skating near the threshold between life and the other thing.
She’s French, she has a grand set of wings, and she’s keeping an eye out for Andi. Andi has been going through it, having contracted Lyme disease. We witness her struggle and resilience through some glorious storytelling.
Lucky’s scenes are playful, direct, and charming. Andi’s scenes were eerie, disquieting, and utterly compelling. The infection begins to take a hold as Andi moves from bewildered to laboured. The brown paper that constituted the set becomes an ever-escalating burden.
Her struggle becomes a cruel one, but there’s such beauty in its depiction. Andi almost out of sight before thrusting two hands up in desperate plea is as striking an image on stage as you’ll ever see.
Caleb Garfinkel’s lovely sound design comes and goes, the action occasionally held by other music, (such as a striking moment midway with Andi accompanied by a Joanna Newsom track), but some of the organic sounds – a chair creaking under the moments of a body, the same chair groaning as it’s forced across the floor – are the most memorable. Yet the sonic and physical bedlam can only be as effective as it is, because of how well Andi uses silence and stillness.
Some recent productions elsewhere pop seemingly unrelated set pieces next to each other, forcing the audience to invent connection and meaning where none was written, but there are no such trick here. There’s contrast between scenes, sure, but never discordance.
It’s no surprised to learn from the programme that Andi has been performing and developing Happy-Go-Wrong for six years. It feels familiar, lived in. Indeed, being unfamiliar with the genesis of the show, what was particularly captivating was the gentle realisation through all the shapes and sounds and stylisations we were witnessing something autobiographical.
Happy-Go-Wrong is a perfect example of one of theatre’s bewitching qualities – you can be presented with the most outlandish or unnatural action, yet it feels so moving and true. Happy-Go-Wrong is a mid-winter gem that’s more than worth braving the cold for.
Happy-Go-Wrong
fortyfivedownstairs, 45 Flinders Lane, Melbourne
Performance: Thursday 26 June 2025
Season continues to 29 June 2025
Bookings: www.fortyfivedownstairs.com
For more information, visit: www.andisnelling.com for details.
Images: Andi Snelling in Happy-Go-Wrong – photos by Darren Gill