The Classics. But Happier.

The company is named after the Doctor Who story written by Graeme Curry (broadcast in three parts from November 2 to November 16, 1988). The Doctor (Sylvester McCoy) and his companion Ace (Sophie Aldred) do battle with Helen A (Sheila Hancock) and the Kandy Man (David John Pope) on a planet where unhappiness is illegal and is punished by The Happiness Patrol, a death squad entrusted with rooting out and eliminating everyone who is unhappy.

More information on the story, including synopsis, cast and broadcast history, can be found on Wikipedia.

The company is based in Walsall (in the West Midlands, in the United Kingdom). The company is dedicated to producing work in small-scale spaces across the West Midlands and to developing opportunities for audiences to experience classical theatre productions across that region.

For our purposes, the company defines a classical play or story as one which was written in or before 1912, the year in which the Swedish playwright August Strindberg died. Classical theatre tends to be rooted in text. The chief way in which a classical play’s situations and characters are explored is in “the primacy of language and an exploration of its endless ambiguities and ironies.” (Michael Billington, The Guardian). Our productions attempt to find exciting ways to explore classical plays and stories through a careful balance of textual and visual elements.

At present, our policy of creating stage productions based on plays and stories written before 1912 means that we do not produce brand-new, original plays. We develop scripts which form the basis of our productions from existing plays and stories, which are rewritten to accommodate the nature and focus of the production in question. Sometimes that rewriting is very discreet; sometimes that rewriting is very drastic. The text used in performance may be new, but it is always deeply rooted in a much older existing work.

At present, we do not accept unsolicited manuscripts and we do not commission writers to create scripts for our productions. Our resources do not currently stretch to allow us to offer a script-reading service.

We are, however, always very happy to hear from writers who are working on scripts based on classical plays, stories and novels. On occasion, it may be possible for us to arrange meetings with writers to discuss their projects in more depth. If you feel you have a script that fits the bill, please contact us with a brief outline.

Casting is generally organised on a project-to-project basis, but we are always looking for actors to join our ongoing ensemble. We are happy to accept CVs accompanied by headshots which will be kept on file for future consideration. CVs should be emailed to allsorts@happiness-patrol.com.

Given our commitment to nurturing the West Midlands’ creative industry, we are particularly happy to hear from performers based in the region, whilst remaining committed to offering equal opportunities to all performers. When casting our productions, however, we do not discriminate either in favour of against candidates on the basis of the region in which they are based.

There are five main ways to learn more about the company and our work:

• Check this website for the most up-to-date information and latest news;
• Join our mailing list by submitting your details via the form in the bottom right-hand corner of this website;
• Subscribe to our RSS feed. If you’re not sure what this is, click here;
• If you’re on Facebook, join our Facebook Group;
• If you’re a Twitterer, follow us on Twitter.