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Islanders are being invited into a world of 'funny' exterminations and 'hilarious' mass deportations.
The alternate reality is the centre of a psychedelic play set to officially premiere at the Edinburgh Fringe later this month - but the group behind it is offering a sneak preview at the Arts Centre, where they've been polishing it this week.
Written by Cristian Ceresoli, and presented by Silvia Gallerano and Stefano Cenci, 'Happy Hour' is set in a new world of unending cheeriness mixed with totalitarianism.
“The play is about happiness and fascism,” Cristian told Express. “It’s the story of a new world which really looks like our world where to be happy is compulsory. So, in order to be part of the society, you must be, not just happy but to fit with that society, to be smart and very cool just to mention the words that we use in the text.”
Video: Express gets a sneak peek of 'Happy Hour'.
Cristian says this “very modern tragedy where you die laughing, as slaughtering beasts” was inspired from everyday life.
“It’s a bit like a psychedelic play - of course there’s a lot of fantasy, but it definitely comes from what we’re living. It’s all about our lives, our society, our families, our kids and our dreams," he explained. "The question in the play is: 'Is it me or is this something that I have to be?' There is a distance from me and something that I have to be.”
This is the second play Cristian is bringing to Jersey after La Merda, which won six major awards including a ‘Fringe First’ Award in 2012 – a first for an Italian company.
Produced by Frida Kahlo Productions, Richard Jordan Productions, Teatro Metastasio and Teater Grob, ‘Happy Hour’ involves the same team as ‘La Merda, including Silvia Gallerano, who plays Ado.
She is joined on stage by her brother Kerfuffle, played by Stefano Cenci.
The team has been in Jersey to develop the English version of ‘Happy Hour’ ahead of its premiere at Edinburgh Festival Fringe at the end of the month for a full run throughout August.
Originally written in an invented language in Italian, before being adapted in Danish, the script had to be rewritten by Cristian. Having the opportunity to develop the new version and present it to a real audience was therefore an exciting prospect for the team.
Pictured: From left, Richard Jordan, Producer; Cristian Ceresoli, Writer; Silvia Gallerano, Actress and Stefano Cenci, Performer.
“For [the actors], it’s important to work on the English version because we are not English, so we don’t speak English,” Silvia explained.
“So, we needed time to test it in another language and also to test it with an audience. So this week we’ll meet the audience and this will be very important for us to understand if they understand us.”
“It will good to understand how the rhythm changes, how everything changes because it’s a show with a great language, an invented language sometimes there’s a specific music inside,” Stefano added.
“It’s very, very fascinating to do it in another language because we have to discover it again another time from the beginning.”
Pictured: 'Happy Hour' was originally written in Italian.
Silvia said that the performance at the Arts Centre will also be the opportunity to test out the invented language in English and check if the new invention works or not.
As Richard Jordan observed, the performances will give the company “some very honest audiences to come and see the show”, while also getting the chance to preview a show that will be at the Fringe, and further afield in the future.
“We came with Christian’s last play, La Merda, which we played here and that show began in Edinburgh and toured here and has continued over the last few years to still be playing around the world,” he said. “So we hope that ‘Happy Hour’ will have an onwards life as a result of that but these performances are kind of going to be crucial and I hope that the audience that come will be able to feed into that process and really help us with the development and the onward life of the show.”
'Happy Hour' will be on at the Arts Centre at 20:00 today and tomorrow.
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