I Want To Be Happy

THE GREATEST GIFT YOU CAN GIVE THE PERSON YOU LOVE IS TO SET THEM FREE

“After all these years of talking to each other and not understanding a word. Something slipped through. Something beyond words. Something from one heart to another”

Binka is a guinea pig in a laboratory cage. Paul is the lab assistant who looks after her. Neither understand each other, yet everyday they share their hopes and fears. Binka wants to escape. Paul wants to get the love of his life back. Both just want to be happy again.

But how can you? When everything you’ve known is gone and you’re left with a broken heart, sometimes the greatest gift you can give the person you love, is to set them free.

Humour and pathos collide in Carl Bland’s new work starring theatre greats Jennifer Ludlam and Joel Tobeck.

Supported by Auckland Live
Script development support provided by Auckland Theatre Company

- Carl Bland
- Ben Crowder
- Carl Bland
- Andrew Foster
- Sean Lynch
- Elizabeth Whiting & The Costume Studio
- John Gibson
- Jennifer Ludlam
- Joel Tobeck
- Milo Cawthorne

“A Disney adventure for grownups, I Want To Be Happy takes the viewer on a rollercoaster of adrenaline highs and devastating lows as it plumbs the depths of poignant themes like loneliness and loss, friendship and family, and above all, communication.”

Regional News
“Nightsong creates works which aims to be transformative, and they’ve achieved that here. Everyone will leave the theatre with something”

The Post
“The cast is in a word – outstanding.”

New Zealand Arts Review
“Carl Bland has created a rich world, filled with nuanced characters and deeply human experiences”

Theatrescenes