'Happyslap' attacks every emotion
By Lydia Gutierrez, Writer
April 30, 2007 | 5:24 p.m.
"Happy slapping" sounds like a ridiculous, made-up word. One might not even think that it’s a real action. The Webster's New Millennium Dictionary of English defines happy slapping as "an unprovoked physical attack on an individual, recorded by an accomplice with a camera, especially a camera phone." Someone should make a movie about that…or write a play.
Laura Jacqmin graduated from Yale in 2004 with a degree in theater studies, then chose Ohio University for her graduate work. Jacqmin began writing "Happyslap" August 2005.
"I had done some traveling in the UK right after college, alone, and at least part of the play comes from that -- the disorienting feeling of being a woman, by myself, in a foreign country," Jacqmin said. "The following summer, when I started reading about the legislation Tony Blair was pushing through to try to curb happy slapping, the idea came to me pretty quickly."
In recent years, the act of happy slapping has grown. Videos can be found on YouTube.com and private websites. There have been cases where the attackers have taken things too far and their victims end up dead. In March 2006, a 30 year-old man was attacked by an 18 year-old man and died. Another incident resulted in the drowning of a 44 year-old man.
The play revolves around four main characters in London: Gemma, Dave, Remy and Cori. Dave began happy slapping and Remy and Cori became part of the process as well, going as far as posting videos of the attacks on a Web site. That Web site is how Gemma, an American girl, found Dave.
The characters happy slap because the group is angry and hurt; happy slapping is a way for them to release their anger and to transfer hurt they feel onto someone else. Gemma believes that if they are angry they should do something about it, so she and Dave go out on an attack and end up putting a man in a coma.
The rule is to stop after first blood is drawn, but Dave has become known for going too far and changing what happy slapping is all about.
"Ultimately, this isn't a play about technology, or isolation, or even happy slapping; it's a play about four people, and how they're trying to come together, and in what ways they're successful -- and what ways they're not," Jacqmin said.
The main three -- Cori, Remy and Dave -- act as a support system. Cori attempts to help both Remy and Dave and provides them with a lot of material essentials, as she is wealthy. Dave is full of anger after ending a heartbreaking relationship, so he uses happy slapping and sex to feel better. He repeatedly tells Cori that she can’t fix him and that he doesn’t want to be fixed.
The play is filled with pain, love, fear and other intense emotions. Audiences will feel the tension as well, especially when the characters argue through yelling, screaming and crying. There are a few scenes that may tug at viewers’ heart strings and bring tears to their eyes. It is easy to feel sympathy for the characters, despite the fact that they are violently attacking strangers for entertainment and relief. The characters come from troubled backgrounds and they are all each other has.
"Happyslap" will have four more performances in its run at Ohio University, every night May 2-5. Showtime is at 8 p.m. in Elizabeth Evans Baker Theater in Kantner Hall, and tickets are $12.
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