THE HAPPY JOURNEY

Programme & Press Cutting

Directed by:  Sheila Rumney

Production Date:  Spring 1955

Playwright:  Thornton Wilder (1931)

Genre:  Drama

Group:  Burgess Hill Theatre Club (BHTC)

Staged:  St Andrews Parish Room Burgess Hill

 

Synopsis: 

 

The play dramatises the Kirby family's simple journey in their Chevrolet to elder daughter Beulah's house in Camden.

 

But there is more to this play than the banal rituals of a family excursion. Along the way, Ma reprimands her son Arthur for his wisecrack about her pious devotion to God. Her daughter Caroline is a daydreamer, but when she spits out of the car window, Ma scolds her too. Ma is a strong woman who has a habit of sitting in judgment of other people, but she cares little about what others think of her.

 

She has lost a son to war, so she is resigned to the inevitability of death and knows people must continue to go about their business, placing their faith in a benevolent God, even if mankind doesn't understand how he controls the universe.

 

BHTC NOTES: Performed as an evening of three short plays it is not clear from the information available how many performances were involved.

Ma Kirby

Arthur

Caroline

Pa (Elmer) Kirby

Beulah

Sheila Eagleton

Michael George

Jane Hardwick

Charles Gover

Julie Tory

Cast

 

PLAYWRIGHT: 

 

Although more generally known and referred to as 'The Happy Journey', the full title of this short play is actually ' The Happy Journey To Trenton & Camden' and was written by Thornton Wilder in 1931

BHTC Production Number: 3