Depression isn’t funny. It’s unpredictable, life-changing and sad. So it’s a brave move to make a show the doesn’t shy away from the reality, a show that’s honest and open … and happy to talk!

And sing … because this is a Super Happy Show about Feeling Super Sad, where music punctuates the sadness to bounce us back from the brink of tears, and humour is constantly shifting the mood.

Sixteen-year-old Sally first feels depression’s dark shadow on her back when she’s out celebrating her 16th birthday. Everything is perfect - she’s got in on fake ID to see her favourite band, and the boy she’s fancied ‘for ever’ is showing an interest – so why does she feel so bad?

Suddenly, her certainty that she’s going to change the world vanishes, and getting out of bed to take her exams seems pointless. Her largely absent mum’s not a lot of help and Sally spirals further and further away from herself.

Until an encounter at a support group offers hope and she slowly rediscovers the delight of a beautiful day. But even though this is a Super Happy Story, it is about Feeling Super Sad, with no guarantee of a fairy tale ending, and Sally struggles to stay on an even keel.

A shiny happy trip to Disneyland Paris – the ultimate in super happy places, one that’s in sharp contrast to the everyday - is swiftly followed by the snarling return of the black dog, and it’s touch and go who’s going to win…

A Super Happy Story (about Feeling Super Sad) tackles a difficult (and often misunderstood) disease with the lightest of touches, though it never avoids the reality of the absolute despair of those who live with it.

Jon Brittain and Matthew Floyd Jones’ (who also provides the keyboard accompaniment) beautifully designed show maintains a careful and admirable balance throughout, offering welcome injections of humour at exactly the right moments, and in Madi McMahon’s performance as Sally they’ve found an actor who perfectly embodies both the fragility and the strength of a woman who’s committed to finding the way forward, recognising how hard that might be, but somehow hanging on to a sense of humour and of herself.

Madi’s Sally is perfectly counterpointed and complemented by Sophie Clay and Edward Yelland playing multiple roles to add depth to Sally’s story, with no more than a coat, a jacket or a backpack to move from one to another.

Mental health issues are at last beginning to emerge from the shadows to which they’ve been consigned for far too long, and A Super Happy Story is a timely and valuable addition to the discussion – anyone who has felt the effects of depression will recognise its truths, and anyone with scant acquaintance with the disease will hopefully leave with a deeper understanding and sympathy.