Moving On: A New Musical
★★★☆☆ Fun!
Paradise in Augustines (Venue 152): Mon 24 – Sun 30 Aug 2026
Review by Ed Boulter-Comer
There’s something odd about this old house in Happy Sad Productions’ Moving On at Paradise in Augustines, a high-energy and accessible new musical from a well-loved local company.
Written by director Roza Stevenson, assistant director Amber Docherty and musical director Josh Wood, Moving On features three siblings who have been hired to clear out the contents of a house that used to belong to their teacher – and come face to face with characters from beyond the grave.
Moving On: A New Musical from Happy Sad Productions. Pic: Amber Docherty.
Robyn Yarwood, Benji Gibbs and Bo Gourley star as the siblings in question and make for an engaging and believable trio. Their opening number-cum-local-business-advert is great fun and has some witty and creative stage business with the multiple packing boxes that make up the set.
Sandy Bishop, Maggie Goodall and Iona Wood all have strong individual numbers as various deceased owners of the house. Bishop and Wood provide light romance, as her recently deceased teacher acts as a point of connection for Bishop’s irascible Geoffrey.
This is a piece more focused on sibling relationships, however, and Yarwood and Gourley in particular play out the sense of abandonment well. This adds depth to proceedings. The stand out performance comes from Jack Mailer as DJ, a ghostly 90s gangsta rapper. He is all front and no substance and certainly an audience favourite. His energy lights up the stage and every joke lands.
upbeat and well-crafted
The music is upbeat and well-crafted with balanced colour from trombone and trumpet. The base from the keyboard swamps the occasional lyric but Wood has prepped the cast excellently and the affectionate nods to well-known musicals fit well.
It is lively and fun-filled stuff. It would be easy to imagine younger companies wanting to perform it if trimmed of a couple of instances of fruity language. The Fringe gives local groups the chance to measure themselves against all-comers and Happy Sad Productions have once again shown that they can provide a great evening’s entertainment.
Running time: Two hours (including one interval).
Paradise in Augustines (Sanctuary), 41 George IV Bridge EH1 1EL, (Venue 152).
Monday 24 – Sunday 30 August 2026.
Daily: 6.45pm.
Tickets and details: Book here at EdFringe.com.
Facebook: @happysadproductions
Instagram: @happysadproductions
Linktree: @HappySadProductions.
Moving On: A New Musical from Happy Sad Productions. Pic: Amber Docherty.
ENDS
