Grief is a personal journey and you never know how it will be until you are faced with it head-on. All The Happy Things takes the audience on a personal emotional journey of grief, responsibility and love.

Sienna played by Naomi Denny tries to keep everything together as her world implodes around her. Her Father is in a nursing home and is bordering on his final warning and her boss is demanding and favours the less capable male co-worker over her to do a role which is clearly above his ability. Sienna is called in to oversee him instead of being promoted!

The storyline focuses on sisters Sienna and Emily (LJ Johnson). They thought they had an unbreakable bond and would enjoy being each other’s company forever. Letting go of these ties is left up to Sienna as she deals with the aftermath of Emily’s untimely departure, although Emily is quite ready to leave Sienna either.

Dejon Mullings switches between the roles of Sienna’s boyfriend and boss, Sam and Kevin. Sam is desperately trying to understand what is happening to Sienna and by the end I defy anyone not to want a “Sam” in their life supporting them from the sideline.

There are occasions when the storyline feels like it is dragging us along unnecessarily. To pack an emotional punch, which you expect due to the topic of the play. Which looks at raw emotions surrounding grief and loss, the play would benefit from reducing some of the dialogue which became “too wordy” at times and slightly irrelevant to the storyline.

The emotional roller-coaster towards the end of the play was matched by a few tears being shed by some of the audience members. It’s advisable to take some some tissues in case it catches you off guard.

For more information about All The Happy Things and future productions at Soho Theatre please use the link below.

Three Stars.

Photo Credit Alex Brenner.

All The Happy Things