OBSERVER: Disunited States
When it comes to farce, it would be difficult to rival current events where the United States are concerned but Richard Mealey has taken on that daunting task in his contribution to this year’s Comedy Festival. Titled Disunited States, we are privy to a range of stereotypical characters that expose the fraught underbelly of a fractured society. The teacher handing out guns to his class, the one hundred year old café worker not able to retire until his medical debt has been paid, the vague flower-power poet – all and each are hilariously comical but for the fact that they alert us to some very real problems in American society. If you didn’t laugh, you’d cry.
Mealey and his director, Barney Pollock, have crafted an entertaining show. Uncle Sam on stilts with eagle’s claws is a powerful introductory image but, for all the limits of the Motley Bauhaus stage, they have utilised a projector screen to comic effect and worked the audience involving them wherever possible – though I would say giving them toy guns that actually fired projectiles has the potential to disrupt one’s timing. Mealey, however, took this in his stride.
The incorporation of Australian references is biting as we see the best and worst of Australia in comparison to the US. Mealey plays and sustains all the characters well and it is often in the latent message that we find pause to reflect. As for current events, perhaps a performance at the White House might help America put things in perspective. You never know, Mealey could be the inaugural act in the new ballroom or perform at the Trump Kennedy Center, the latter having an open calendar.
Reviewed by David McLean