"Like Shirley Valentine crossed with Nicolas Roeg,
like if Fellini's 8 1/2 was about a bored mum and wife."
Leo Travis
Singer-Songwriter
Synopsis: Ever had 'one of those days'? You don't feel appreciated, you don't feel inspired, you can get from your alarm clock to bed time without remembering a single thing from your day? Well, Ema has been having 'one of those days' a lot recently. The Mum of Two, has tidied too much, cooked too often and felt excited far too little to be satisfied. But as another day begins, she receives an offer for a good time with a mystery admirer.
With this invite in the back of her mind, Ema spends the day secretly torn between the expectations of her youth and the demands of her present. As the clock counts down to the crucial time, Ema remembers her favourite pop singer, the penpals she used to write to so often, how much she used to like those Matthew Harden movies and just what her ideas of romance are now that she sees her in-laws more than her workaholic husband.
As 8pm gets closer and closer, Ema feels torn between her domestic obligations and an adventure of erotic exploration with her mystery lover. Will she risk it all just for a chance to satisfy her urges? Or will she decide that's just not her life anymore and resign herself to being Mum?
Caught between her desires and responsibilities, all Ema knows for sure is that feeling like this is not 'just one of those days'.
Happy Returns stars Markéta Brundova as Ema, the domestic goddess who feels like an old-timey housewife, in a Presents Inc production of the 3rd Thingy from Daniel Hutchings.
