A Super Happy Story (About Feeling Super Sad) at the Young Vic

After accumulating accolades on the festival circuit, including a Fringe First, Jon Brittain’s A Super Happy Story (About Feeling Super Sad) took the stage at the Young Vic for a special rendition as part of the Shedinburgh Festival. The Silent Uproar production is a musical cabaret about depression, in which the sharpness of Brittain’s pen is complemented, if not always matched, by Matthew Floyd Jones’s music. Together, they create a poignant insight into human nature, told with wit and compassion.

Directed by Alex Mitchell, the show compacts a decade of Sally’s (Madeleine MacMahon) life into 60 minutes: from the moment she first realised something was not right inside, to dropping out of college, to finding in childhood frenemy Toby (Ed Yelland) a loyal ally with an obsession with Meatloaf – the same obsession that will in some mysterious way save Sally’s life.

Before the performance even starts, MacMahon interacts with the audience as they settle in, looking absolutely captivating in a sequinned tailcoat and top hat. Sally then reassures everyone this is a “happy show” – one with some dark moments since it is, after all, about depression. She explains how the illness arrives with no warnings, no causes, then shows how it affected her personally. There is not a dull moment that should have been cut.

One of the greatest strengths of the play is the three-person cast working in perfect synergy. MacMahon is the glue, while Yelland and Sophie Clay jump from one character to another. Clay’s Tash, a member of Sally’s support group who offers her a cigarette and life advice, is superb, as is Yelland’s Toby. His relationship with Sally offers some of the most tender, genuinely heartwarming moments.

The comedy carries the story forward, striking a deft balance between light-hearted and serious. The songs, however, are entertaining but uneven. Their job is mainly tonal: they set up a cheerfulness that the story repeatedly undercuts, and the lurch from that cheer into darkness rings true to how depression behaves, regardless of circumstances.

The best parts overall are the ones that reach for the specificities of Sally’s experience, what makes it her story whilst at the same time a universal one. And there is much to learn from it: that a mixtape can change one’s life, for instance, and good advice should not be gatekept. That weather does not need to be perfect to be enjoyed. That feeling “not bad” is sometimes very great indeed.

Benedetta Mancusi
Photos: Richard Davenport

A Super Happy Story (About Feeling Super Sad) is at the Young Vic from 3^rd October 2026. For further information or to book, visit the theatre’s website here.