Happy Birthday, Wanda June

Kurt Vonnegut’s Happy Birthday, Wanda June amusingly juxtaposes and caricatures disparate people with contrasting attitudes, clearly setting out to highlight our collective human foibles.  But, rather than reveal the contradictions in the sociopolitical environment of 1960s and 1970s America, the play delivers somewhat blunt conclusions.  It deals heavy-handedly with notions of war, ownership of others, naïve idealism, and killing for pleasure and status (in contrast to the “Make love, not war” mantra we associate with the time) rather than show us the more nuanced motives for the actions of individuals, communities, and nation states — some of which might reveal themselves if approached with a lighter touch.

Canberra Rep’s production of the play was staged imaginatively, with a detailed, colourful set that suited the U.S. city apartment circa 1970 setting and character; some beautiful costuming; carefully planned and controlled lighting; and surprising sound effects, in surround sound, no less.

The audience may need to set aside some actors’ enthusiastic character interpretations in order to appreciate the play’s waggishness in mixing caricature, heavy irony, and frequent bursts of wit, but its waggishness was not lost.  The performances in particular of Antonia Kitzel, David Bennett, and newcomer Iain Murray added a great deal of charm both to the play’s pedestrian concerns and to its playful depiction of a heavenly afterlife.

John P. Harvey and Michele E. Hawkins

Image: [L–R] David Bennett and Michael Sparks, and [L–R] Antonia Kitzel, Jemima Phillips, and Iain Murray, in Happy Birthday, Wanda June.  Photographer: Helen Drum.