Review by Liz Martin
60m | Comedy | Mature
Hearing only the title of this show, you and I may have had a similar first impression: an expectation of an optimistic montage held together by themes of contentment and pleasure – this followed abruptly by a sinking feeling after noticing that tiny trademark symbol of property and commercialism. Happiness™ is setting us up to make a sale.
Upon setting foot in the venue, we are greeted by a trade show arrangement of products that promise to appease every irritation of our existence (including the “Happy Hook-up” – a contraption with the appearance of a torturous orthodontic device but the name of an erotic plaything). May Can Theatre creators and Happiness™ performers, Tony Adams and Cory Thibert, are out to engage and interact with their audience – or more aptly, seminar attendees – right away. As representatives of H.P.L. (Happiness, Prosperity, and Luxury), Peter Barrel (Thibert) and James Lemon (Adams) mingle with the Fringe-goers. A soothing guitar riff looping in the background, we’re encouraged to browse the “products” for sale and get a drink while the reps distribute their happiness assessment survey and make chipper conversation. We’re soon seated for a sales seminar which promises to provide us with the tools to become masters of our own destiny, which quickly unravels as the characters’ own obsessions impair their ability to make a successful sales pitch.
Happiness™ has the sense of being an experiment still in its early stages. The show wavers from loosely-scripted, pseudo-confident sequences to adeptly rehearsed play-within-a-play bits, and tightly choreographed physical numbers. This change in tempo is jarring, but the “sales pitch” sketches have a charmingly inane spoof/commercial quality (à la Saturday Night Live) that makes these highly watchable.
If this show were only about spoofs and gags, it would be recommendable to Fringe audiences. It’s the attempt at heavy character back stories and a superficial plot arc that turn the experience from silly to uncomfortable. There’s a falseness in the characters of Barrel and Lemon that prevents us from sympathizing with two salesmen about to implode from the contradictions of who they are and what they try to sell. Instead, we’re distracted by worry that Thibert and Adams, as actors, are stepping into characters they don’t know intimately enough, although the subtly-developed supporting role of Mr. Carpenter (Ray Besharah) gives this May Can project potential to evolve.
Happiness™ still feels like a character study in its earliest stages. In the meantime, until it matures, the price of admission gets you the best place around Fringe to grab a cheap drink, at the suggested price of $3.
Happiness™ is playing at BYOV H – T.A.N. Cafe (317 Wilbrod at Friel) on Friday, June 21 at 6:00pm; Saturday, June 22 at 9:00pm; Thursday, June 27 at 9:00pm; Friday, June 28 at 6:00pm; Saturday, June 29 at 9:00pm; Sunday, June 30 at 6:00pm. Tickets are $10.
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