Happy Ending Street
★★★☆☆ Gallus
Leith Arches (Venue 324): Fri 1 – Sat 9 Aug 2025
Review by Julia Amour
Happy Ending Street, from new Scottish theatre company DollsnRags, bursts vividly into life at Leith Arches like a cross between gothic crime drama and teen comedy.
Billed as bold new feminist storytelling driven by unapologetically funny women, the play spotlights a story of three sex workers in 19th century Leith with a fresh and earthy focus on their lives, hopes, and fears.
Bonnie (Jenna Stones), Frances (Breagha Sturrock) and Pearl (Lucia Ireland). Publicity image for Happy Ending Street. Pic: Charlotte Cullen.
At the same time as bringing a modern energy to these squabbling but supportive flatmates, the piece shows how they endure the dangers of predatory men whether violent stalkers or those with the authority of church and state.
The play opens with its own local anthem, in West End musical idiom, powerfully sung by Lucia Ireland as Pearl (who also co-directs and produces). She establishes the character’s cheeky intelligence and seductive charm with an appealingly big and bold acting style that only gradually reveals her fatalism that there is no other life for her but this.
The action switches to Frances (Breagha Sturrock), whose lurid prayers conjure up the women’s darkest fears of the night-stalker plaguing their sister sex workers. A devout young woman, she is tormented by the teachings of the Kirk that she is a hellbound sinner, while also showing a hardy realism in everyday life as she mocks the advances of her would-be suitors. Her talent for physical comedy makes the most of the lusty and inventive Scots that peppers the play, and it’s a joy to hear under-used words on stage like daftie, clipe – and, quite naturally, bawbag.
But it is Bonnie – played by Jenna Stones, the writer and co-director of the piece – who is evidently the most worldly and spirited of the trio, planning for a life beyond Leith and for an end to the violence by any means necessary. Her characterisation has a well-realised fresh naturalism, and she makes use of the unusual space with a highly effective physical performance.
Frances (Breagha Sturrock), Bonnie (Jenna Stones) and Pearl (Lucia Ireland). Publicity image for Happy Ending Street. Pic: Charlotte Cullen.
The atmospheric old railway arch lends itself to this interesting use of movement, with the feeling of a high-ceilinged cellar and stairs up to a mezzanine, though occasionally the group choreography can become frenetic and swerves into pantomime territory.
The tone of the piece can also be variable: it aims to give emotional depth to female characters, but for that to fully succeed there needs to be more psychological context for Pearl’s crisis point, the rapid climbdown from the plan to escape their present lives, and Bonnie’s weird lusting after the night-stalker. The action also comes to an abrupt full stop, making it feel like a single act from a bigger piece to come – given time perhaps for creative decisions about whether this is going broader or deeper as a drama.
That unfolding story should be keenly anticipated, because Happy Ending Street is a gallus, gutsy and funny debut.
Running time: 50 minutes (no interval).
Leith Arches, 6 Manderston St, Edinburgh EH6 8LY (Venue 324).
Friday 1 – Saturday 6 August 2025.
Fri-Sat: 4pm Sun 3/Thur 7: 5pm; Mon 4 – Wed 6: 6pm.
Tickets and details: Book here on EdFringe.com.
Facebook: @dollsnrags
Instagram: @dollsnrags
TikTok: @dollsnrags
Bonnie (Jenna Stones), Frances (Breagha Sturrock) and Pearl (Lucia Ireland). Publicity image for Happy Ending Street Pic Charlotte Cullen
ENDS
