‘Happen Chance’ is a unique long-form improvisational show

THIS is a show not to be missed; ‘Happen/Chance’ is an improvisational theatre experience that unfolds before your eyes.

With every spin of the “Wheel of Archetypes” and selection from the “Trunk of Materialistic Identifiers”, each actor (John O’Hagan, Charlie Kranz, Hilary Cotter, Anna Nugent, and Paul Nugent) transforms on stage, weaving a story of characters fuelled by spontaneity and imagination.

Random lines of dialogue are thrown at each new character to include in this new play that will be created before your eyes.

Each night, two brand new plays.

Be part of the action as Happen/Chance Production’s seasoned actors breathe life into this unscripted journey, delivering clever, comic performances that will leave you spellbound.

The ‘Happen/Chance’ Team are thrilled to bring their unparalleled brand of “Honestly, Live, Theatre” to The Civic Theatre in Tallaght.

This week, The Echo sat down with actor John O’Hagan to discuss ‘Happen/Chance’, which performs in the Civic Theatre on June 12 at 8.15pm; booking details are available on the Civic website.

 What can you tell us about ‘Happen/Chance’?

There are basically two “sides” to Happen/Chance. There’s Happen/Chance Productions, which is the larger umbrella for the creative work we, as a collective, do and then there is Happen/ Chance: The Show. What we’re bringing to the Civic Theatre in Tallaght this week is Happen.

Chance: The Show, which is a unique long-form improv show, and it’s a wild ride.

Each actor gets a random character, prop, and a starting line for a monologue, and we have to bring all these characters together in a single story that has a beginning, middle and end – with a collective final line – and do it all in no more than 30 minutes.

After the interval, we get all new elements and create a whole new play, BUT in the second show, each of our characters from the first show has to make a cameo appearance.

What has been the inspiration behind this production?

Happen/Chance (the show) was initially developed as part of the 2024 Scene+Heard Festival of New Work at Smock Alley Theatre.

I was fairly new to the Dublin theatre community, and I wanted to find a way to connect with other artists.

The basic format of the show was something I had been pitching to Bankside Repertory Theatre. But the timing never worked out.

I had met Emer, Paul, and Anna through a couple of other projects, and they were intrigued enough by the idea to jump on board.

Paul brought Charlie in, and he also recently connected us with Hilary – whose first show will be this one at the Civic.

Paul, Anna, Charlie, and Emer all really polished up the rough form of the show that I had, and, boom, Happen/Chance was born.

We keep tweaking the format of the show, and we’re really excited for what Hilary will bring to the process and what new ideas she will have for how we play and make the work.

 Would you, Charlie, Anna, Hilary, or Paul have any favourite parts of improv or any particular highlights from past performances?

Every show is as surprising and fun for us, as performers (and producers), as it is for the audience.

We get to that final line, and frequently, we can see in each other’s eyes this kind of “Wow! We did it – holy c**p!”

There is so much fun, so much joy, in the space, and it really bounces between the stage and the audience – it bounces between us as actors.

I think this constitutes a massive highlight for all of us. I mean, none of us is making money at this.

We are happy to have enough for a pint at the end of the night, but that creative spirit between us as artists is so tremendously rewarding.

I can only imagine it’s how a group of jazz musicians feel at the end of a good jam session.

I think we all keep coming back to it because of that joy, the great fun we have in tackling the challenge.

What would usually be some of the big challenges in your improv performances? Has there ever been a time when you had a prompt, and maybe some of you were not sure how to approach it?

A big challenge is making sure we honour the prompts given to us by the audience.

We can’t just decide to ignore something that’s come from them.

For instance, pantos are not a tradition in the US. We really don’t know what they are.

And if you say “pantomime” to most Americans, what they imagine is a mime. So, at a show we had at the dlr Mill Theatre last year, I got the basic character type of “pantomime villain”.

And my tiny, little American brain went immediately to “mime”.

So, I started doing everything silently. I kept getting quizzical looks from the other actors, and the audience was oddly quiet too.

And I couldn’t figure it out. Then, while off to the side of the stage while another scene was happening, it finally clicked.

I found a way to make admitting my idiotic mistake part of the character’s “monologue”, and things went okay from there.

We last spoke regarding the performance in Tallaght Theatre two years ago; what have you and the company been up to since then?

We did a set of Happen/Chance shows at the dlr Mill Theatre in Dundrum and, in February of 2025, we produced SANTA FE: Tales from the American West at the Smock Alley Theatre.

This was co-produced with Bankside Repertory Theatre in the US, and we brought two actors whom I’ve done a lot of work with previously out to join me, Paul, and Katie Lacey-Curtis for these three short plays written by Robert Caisely, which poke and prod the American psyche.

We do have plans for further full productions, but we have had to put them on hold for a bit.

We all have had some other opportunities/obligations creep up that we needed to pursue.

Can we expect more performances of ‘Happen/Chance’ in the near future?

The short answer is “Yes!”  We’re really excited to welcome Hilary into the group, and our plan is to add another couple of actors in the near future.

I certainly would encourage folks to look for upcoming shows in the autumn and over the holidays.

Anyone can follow us on Instagram (@happenchance2024) or reach out to us directly at happenchanceproductions@gmail.com.

Who would you like to thank for making all of this possible?

Emer O’Neill is an absolute rockstar and never gets the full credit she deserves for the hard work she does behind the scenes.

Jennifer Keane did the original production design for Happen/Chance: The Show, and we still use the elements she designed and built for us. Similarly, Emma Brennan was our original lighting and sound creative, and we use her format for all our shows.

Jennifer and Emma also did all the design work on SANTA FE. They’re amazing!

Tickets for the show on June 12 at The Civic are available at the door or here: https://bit.ly/HCatCivic