A very dark comedy for two actors, Happy Birthday Dear Maggie tells the story of Maggie spending the night in a hotel room with a clown (creepy and birthday) while her husband undergoes high-risk surgery that could leave him paralyzed for life. Or kill him. Aldrin, the theologically trained clown helps Maggie understand that while it’s frowned upon in most world religions to ask God to go boomp against the surgeon’s hand while the husband you want to leave is under the knife, sometimes weird miracles happen. She hates birthdays.
Selected from more than five hundred scripts by a team of producers, directors, writers and actors, Happy Birthday Dear Maggie is a featured theatre podcast by US-based Broken Arts Entertainment. It appears in the audio anthology series Loved Ones, season three in 2026.
Happy Birthday Dear Maggie can be heard at brokenartsentertainment.com and at the BAE channels (Broken Arts Entertainment) on YouTube, Spotify and other podcast platforms.
The play made its Canadian stage debut at the Left of Centre Festival produced by IT Productions, Brantford, Ontario, 2026.
It will make its debit in the UK as one of two showcased productions of North American plays at Thestival 2026 produced by the Butter Side Up Theatre Company in Sheffield, UK.
Keywords: Bad marriages, abusive relationships, guilt, romance, clowns.
Genre: Dark Comedy
Acts: 1
Run time: 20 minutes
Suitable for students 16+
Cast size: 2 actors
Male roles: 1
Female roles: 1
Casting notes: Note on playing 'Aldrin' as a clown: Aldrin is a professional clown and would have typical “clown” accessories to support his prop-based gags. A large tote bag that holds his stuff would be useful. The descriptions of the clown “props” in the script are suggestive not prescriptive. It’s not essential that they be exactly as described so long as they allow the actor to complete the gags.
For example, Aldrin’s large magnifying glass could instead be giant glasses or binoculars he uses to inspect Maggie’s face. The over-sized watch he pulls from his bag might be a large mantel or wall clock. The bouquet of flowers he presents to Maggie could be any sort of foam gag flowers such as red noses on stems or a dancing sunflower in a pot.
Visit the playwright's website, www.rickbutts.ca