Happy @ Pleasance Dome

When watching Happy by No Prophet Theatre at this year's Fringe, it is difficult not to wonder which meta level the piece operates on. Because its theme is the (im)possibility of achieving happiness in 2014, the lengthy monologues could be taken as a comment on the self-obsession of today's youth. Maybe the endlessly rehashed doubts resulting from relationship woes are so staid and obvious in order to achieve the destruction of the traditional hierarchy of theatre: any member of the audience could publicly share some of their frustrations and create an equally meaningful experience. The clunky transitions between scenes could be a stark illustration of the lack of comforting transitional rituals in our disenchanted world.

If none of this is the case and the play straightforwardly deals with issues of love and friendship, it fails to do so in a credible way. When Pharrell Wiliams' song Happy is played at the end, one cannot help but think of Argentina's football players who heard the same sounds wash over them after this year's lost World Cup final. At least they had happy German faces to look at. The audience can only steal an embarrassed glance from their neighbours, fumble for their belongings and quietly leave the room.