Sunday, November 16, 2014

Review of Theater Unspeakable's The American Revolution at Adventure Stage Chicago

Once upon a time I went to a show and it was called The American Revolution. It was a devised piece directed by Marc Frost of Theater Unspeakable. All the actors were elevated on a small platform and they had to perform almost everything on it. The only time they didn't, it was only one guy and he had fallen into the water. So that made a lot of sense and I thought that was really awesome too. The effect of having it performed on the platform is the spectacle of seeing people put on this giant show, which is about war, in a a minimum amount of space. Usually when you see a show about war they use up the entire space because war is about a big thing happening to countries where they are fighting for something that they want. And they also made everything with their bodies. If someone was sitting in a chair, that chair would be made out of two people. I think that is a great idea because of a point that I found which is that when a war is happening or after a war everyone has to make things with their own hands because usually there is not much left for people. I absolutely loved this show and I think everyone should go see it. It is about the faults of governments, war, and freedom. They were trying to tell you a different story about the American Revolution from what you would just see in a history book. They made a twist on it. Even if you are in a small space with only a platform and some actors and no props at all, you can make a great show!

My favorite scene was the Philadelphia scene. It had General Howe (Vanessa S. Valliere) and one of his officers (Brittany Anderson) talking about where they were going to strike next. Then Howe started getting very obsessed with Philadelphia. Then he said, "Just keep your finger right there on Philadelphia and we'll come back to that later." And whenever the officer even moved his finger slightly, Howe would be like, "Nope. Put it back." I liked that so much because it was so funny. He was somehow just obsessed with this city. Also how angry the officer was getting was super funny. Howe would say, "Don't forget about Philadelphia. You won't forget about Philadelphia, will you?" And then the officer said, "Yes of course I would never forget about Philadelphia. Now back to the plans." And this went back and forth for a very long time and it was just hilarious. It was in the play because Howe actually went to Philadelphia instead of coming to the battle where he was supposed to meet the British soldiers and fight with them. If he'd shown up, the British might have had a better chance of winning the war.

I thought King George III (Aaron Rustebakke) was a very funny part of this. He would be going everywhere but he would still be swimming or in a bathtub or things like that. And someone else would be his legs. It was just so funny to see this because he would say, "What shall I do!?" and put his feet up next to his chin or wrap them around his neck, and that is not really possible to have them perfectly straight and as close to his body as they were. That impossibility just seemed so funny. King George was not very capable, but one thing he was capable of was being as flexible as heck! He wasn't flexible in a metaphoric way because he made really really stupid decisions. Like he decided to make everyone pay stamp taxes. I loved it when his messenger person [Quenna Lené] starting being like "Stampy stampy stampy!" but then suddenly she was tarred and feathered. That wasn't a very nice thing to do; she was just doing her job. But that does prove my point about how King George makes some pretty bad decisions.

I thought it was funny how they had the joke about the Adams family, because they had John Adams (Trey Hobbs), Abigail Adams (Anderson), and Nabby Adams (Lené). The joke was, they said, "The Adams family has to leave Boston" and then everyone broke into the song, "They're mysterious and spooky! The Adams family! Dadadada. Knock knock." I think one of my favorite characters had to be Nabby because she was just so adorable and funny and whenever something sad had happened, Nabby would shuffle around and slam doors in people's faces and that would make everyone laugh. I also thought that Abigail Adams was a great part of the story because in her letter she said "Remember that women have done stuff too, so they should be equal to men." But then women didn't get to vote for almost 150 years. And, children, that is the reason why women were not "created equal" for 150 years, because John Adams didn't listen to his wife!

Sam Adams (Kathleen Hoil) was basically a crook who had this gang of people who would dump tea into the harbor. So they had a tea harbor for a little while. That must have been nice. You could go swimming and have some lukewarm tea. He did that to show King George that this was a horrible idea to make everybody drink tea so he could get more money. I thought Sam Adams was very funny, especially how loyal people were to him. Like when somebody said, "I like tea!" he said, "No you don't" and they said, "No I don't. Of course I don't. I hate tea!" They were so loyal because they didn't want to get hurt by him. That is a very different view of the revolution than I had before I saw this show!

I really liked George Washington (Jeffrey Freelon). I thought he was very funny. I really liked the part where he was talking to Governor Dinwiddie (who was very Dim-witty, ba dump tshhh). Whenever Dinwiddie sent George Washington on one of his missions Washington would have a way of saying they should go, like "Tally Forth!" but then once he had said it once he had to say it a different way the next time to get them to go. I thought it was super cool how the same actor who played George Washington also played his slave, who fought in the war with him. It showed how George Washington treated his slaves; he treated him unlike himself even though in this production he was himself. The actor changed from being regal and famous-acting to being a shivering soldier trying to keep warm in a barn. It is a good idea to know that George Washington had slaves, to know that he is not a perfect person. He was a person who had flaws and he shouldn't be people's role model in how you should treat people. He could be a role model in being a soldier.

People who would like this show are people who like cute little girls slamming doors in people's faces, flexible kings, and Philadelphia. I think people should definitely definitely go see this show. I had so much fun. This is for kids and grown-ups. Go and see it with your friends and family. I absolutely loved it!

Photos: Johnny Knight

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