I was very fortunate to see the first play from Adelaide’s own Therry Theatre in 2024. A Shortcut to Happiness is a joyous new comedy and was written by New Zealand’s best-loved playwright, Roger Hall. The Therry Dramatic Society also presented Roger Hall’s excellent Four Flat Whites in Italy last year.
A Short Cut to Happiness is set in Adelaide and is a story about Natasha, a Russian immigrant, who can’t work as a teacher because her English is limited so she tries to improve her income, and language skills, by running dance classes. Unlike the locals, Natasha is blunt, and tactless and doesn’t see her new country through rose-tinted glasses. The dance class attracts a group of senior misfits, two widows desperate to find an eligible man, a couple who fill their days with classes, and a recent widower. The slight modification of the story to include Adelaide suburbs and AFL football was clever and made the play more real to me.
The play was very entertaining and well acted by all the cast and they all made each character very believable. The most praise must be given to the 2 leads for their marvellous performance. Ned was played by Lindsay Dunn who I have seen in many performances over the years and he never puts a foot wrong. He would have to be Adelaide’s most prolific actor with this being his 60th play since 2000 and for virtually every theatre group in South Australia. I have seen Shelley Crooks in Therry’s play Twentieth Century in 2021 and for A Shortcut to Happiness she had the role of the Russian immigrant Natasha. Shelley was most impressive and her Russian accent was brilliant and apart from all the dancing in the play Shelley also sang a delightful song that was originally a poem by the Russian, Alexander Pushkin.
The play is directed by Kerrin White who has directed many excellent plays in Adelaide like Humble Boy, The One Day of the Year and The Philadelphia Story. The beautiful set design by Don Oswald with the Church Hall on the right and Ned’s lounge room on the left was simple but very effective with great attention to detail. The dance sequences choreographed by Rose Vallen are enthusiastic and energetic.
This play is intelligent, funny and full of compassion. Packed with Roger Hall’s trademarks of acute observation and bucket-loads of humour, A Shortcut To Happiness is about discovering the ways of a new country, accepting differences, finding love and dancing your way to happiness.
I must thank everyone in the amazing production team for putting on this entertaining play. Therry has been entertaining Adelaide since 1943.
Theatre Review By Richard De Pizzol
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