American't

Postcard Review by Caroline Russell-King

Show – American’t

Playwright/s – Jon Bennett

Production Company/Theatre space – (semi-professional) the theatre, (yes, the new company is called “the theatre”) @ 14^th Ave and 2^nd Street SW.

Length – One Act, 75 minutes (no intermission)

Genre/s – Storytelling

Premise –COVID puts Bennett into a tailspin, forcing him to return to his dysfunctional family in Australia where, depressed, he drinks, attempts suicide, then returns to the USA to be interrogated by officials who let him go provided he leaves after 28 days, then ends up marrying the woman who drove him crazy with her eccentricities (and he is jealous her cats who have bigger Instagram following than him), but he succeeds in getting his green card.

Why this play? Why now? – A lot of artists had PTSD during the lockdown. Some pivoted; some sank. This play addresses the consequences and stigma artists felt when theatres closed and we were told their services weren’t essential (despite the general population turning to artists for solace/distraction from illness, fear and death).

Curiosities – As with his other story Fire in the Meth Lab, I wondered what the (now ex-) wife’s one-person show look like? Probably unfairly, I thought about writers who would have loved a mandated writers retreat for two weeks in an Australian hotel with the government picking up the tab.

Notable Moment – The image of the exploding piss and cum filled condom is vivid.

Notable writing – The first part of the show plays like a theatrical infomercial for his past shows. His most successful show got a 69% approval rating which amuses him. It is of him taking selfies with phallic objects. COVID makes him less cocksure. Lockdown affected all theatre artists and others, like Bennett, didn’t fare well. Being told his work was “non-essential” hit his ego hard. He defines his home as being on the stage, so he felt psychologically homeless when the clubs and theatres were shut down. Being sequestered in a hotel for two weeks, with no window to open, and banal cheery messages on food receipts felt like torture -- akin to solitary confinement in prison.

Notable performances – Jon Bennett likes to complain, and he desperately needs an audience to complain to. He dislikes his girlfriend’s choices - what she eats, how she eats, what she wears, what she watches on TV, and how she sleeps. This woman, a one-night stand, kindly lets him stay with her during lockdown. Marriage disgusts him and he berates those who are married, making assumptions about how much money they spend on the wedding. Then tells us that on the 28^th day he fell in love and married the woman he formerly couldn’t stand. It rings hollow. He does however elicit sympathy as a broke mentally fragile man fending off accusations from American border agents who accuse him of being a lying pedophile who’s into bestiality.

Notable design/Production – A slide show and voicemails from his friend in NYC’s child.

Notable direction – Self-directed.

One reason to see this show – Harrowing tales with a few laughs.