The Americans
This is the tale of a family, the Americans. The father Sam epitomises all thing masculine and controlling about modern US culture; the mother Liberty (Libby) is the new-age therapy obsessed modern woman and their daughter America (Mary) is the iPhone bling obsessed modern youth. For scene changes the audience is treated to video clips where random people were asked for five words that epitomised America to them.
The show follows the American family as they present a allegorical view of the last decade in America and we see Sam trying to control the others by cutting their luxuries while he continues to spend on his own little hobbies, Sam’s installation of video monitoring equipment in Mary’s bedroom and giving her a GPS bracelet so he can make sure she is ‘safe’ at all times and Mary’s revolution after her iPhone is confiscated. The show ends on a possibly positive note as all three become enamoured by a new style of political candidate who may become the saviour of the family unit.
The cast are all very good in the various roles each person plays, the story while not being ground-breaking, is an entertaining one and there are a lot of very funny moments as the family take us through recent American history. The video moments also cause a few guffaws as people have some very interesting words to describe America. This is the show to see especially if you’re a fan of programmes such as The Daily Show.
Visit the Fringe Website for booking details.