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About Happy Now?
england's dreaming
The men and women of Happy Now? live busy lives in the north of London. They are well-educated, well-networked, and well-paid. However, despite the apparent comforts of their lives, the twenty-first century world around them grows increasingly uncertain. “Positive psychology” has replaced “happily-ever-after.” Coal mines are repurposed as tourist attractions, power stations have become contemporary art temples; and school science classes have had to contend with creationism, forming a frontline in the culture wars. New Labour, which in the nineties promised a spirit of hope for a New Britain, now teeters in the face of global twenty-first century problems and a crashing world economy.
Kitty and her friends were ’tweeners when Margaret Thatcher came to power and twenty-somethings when she left it. They were in primary school when the Sex Pistols hit the top of the UK pop charts with “God Save the Queen,” taking their O-levels when Britain and Argentina fought over the Falklands, at university when Ayatollah Khomeini issued a fatwa against author Salman Rushdie, and married by the time Princess Diana died in a car crash in Paris.
On the following pages are a few of the events that might have shaped the lives of the protagonists in Happy Now?.
1967
Decriminalization of homosexuality. Though a long way from ending discrimination and ignorance, the 1967 law ends the longstanding taboo on discussion or representation of homosexuality, as well as prosecution for “immorality.”
1972
Bloody Sunday. British army troops open fire on a civil rights march in Londonderry, Northern Ireland, killing fourteen people. The initial inquiry exonerates the army in what Irish Catholics and many politicians deem a “whitewash.” Tony Blair in 1998 initiates the Saville Inquiry, which, ten years later, has yet to release its findings.
1979
Margaret Thatcher elected England’s first female Prime Minister. Thatcher’s conservative government (1979-1990) promises “popular capitalism,” targeting trade unions and shrinking the National Health Service, and leads Britain to a market-driven culture.
1981
600,000 people gather in the streets of London (and millions watch on television) to catch a glimpse of Lady Diana Spencer and Prince Charles on their wedding day.
1982
British forces defeat Argentine units that have attempted to retake the Falkland Islands (Las Malvinas). Victory increases Britain’s international prestige, as well as nationalism at home, and contributes to Thatcher’s successful re-election in 1983.
1987
In an interview in Women’s Own magazine, Mrs. Thatcher famously proclaims, “There is no such thing as society.”
1990
Conservative John Major succeeds Thatcher as Prime Minister.
Author Roald Dahl dies. By the 1990s, his surreal and subversive stories are the most popular children’s books in Britain.
1995
Queen Elizabeth urges Charles and Diana to “seek an early divorce.” The marriage officially ends with a decree nisi in 1996. As part of the settlement, Diana gives up the HRH title but retains the appellation “Princess of Wales.”
1996
The Spice Girls—Scary, Baby, Posh, Ginger, and Sporty—sell 3 million copies of their debut album, Spice, in the UK alone.
1997
Single mother J.K. Rowling publishes the first novel in the Harry Potter series. On state benefits while she wrote the book, by 2008 the Sunday Times lists her as the twelfth richest woman in Britain.
Diana, Princess of Wales is killed in a car crash. Newly elected Prime Minister Tony Blair dubs her “the People’s Princess,” capping a wave of anti-monarchical sentiment that plays into Blair’s program of modernization.
2000
The Tate Modern, London’s premier gallery for modern and contemporary art, opens in the former Bankside Power Station at the foot of the Millennium Bridge.
2003
In cooperation with American forces, and in opposition to France and Germany, Britain joins the Bush administration’s “Coalition of the Willing” in its war against Iraq.
2004
Introducing “family” as a key theme of the coming elections, Labour proposes a full year’s paid maternity leave for working mothers. Debate ensues over how the measure will affect businesses, if it will incorporate “paternity leave,” and whether it will make women—now entitled to a year off when they have a child—essentially unemployable.
2005
Suicide bombers (three of whom were born in the UK) attack London Underground lines and a bus during the morning rush hour on July 7, killing 52 commuters. London’s surveillance network—the largest CCTV system of any major city in the world—is instrumental in identifying the bombers.
London picked to host 2012 Olympics. Plans include public transit improvements to ease city movement, as well as regeneration efforts in east London.
2007
Tony Blair cedes the position of Prime Minister to long-serving Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown. In the summer of 2008, one year into his term, 74% of Britons polled consider Brown “a change for the worse” from Tony Blair.
2008
Prince Harry returns to England after an emergency withdrawal from his regiment in Afghanistan. The British Army canceled Harry’s original deployment to Iraq a year earlier due to security concerns.
In a historic response to an unprecedented crisis, central banks from all over the world work together to stem the market slide brought on by the global credit crunch.The government unveils a £400 billion bailout plan and effectively brings several banks, including the Royal Bank of Scotland, under state control.
—Compiled by Sarah Bishop-Stone
Production Dramaturg
