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
THE HAPPY JOURNEY
BHTC Production Number: 3