Let's Make History and Theatre Unspeakable present 'The American Revolution'

Big events, small platform

As might be expected from an all-ages short comedy that spans decades, The American Revolution portrays events with a broad stroke. An ensemble of seven, barefoot in identical red costumes, plays not only all the historical characters we expect, but also creates the action and portrays inanimate objects from ships and flags to a swivel chair and a quarter.

They perform on a small rectangular platform -- described as 21 square feet -- with a backdrop bathed in colored light behind them. What seems a practical device to accommodate touring grew from a theater exercise director Marc Frost learned in a London school teaching Jacques Lecoq's physical theater techniques. The approach produces compact stage pictures using the actors' bodies and expressions, and supports a fast, high-energy performance style. The actors create all sound effects, from ocean waves and cannons firing to hummed music.

All this makes for an unusual and lively experience, teaching kids something special about theater as well as reviewing historical events.

History sketched

The American Revolution’s main character is George Washington. We’re spared the cherry tree, but learn the Virginian’s early military ambitions (with the British Army, of course) were thwarted by a disastrous campaign that launched the French and Indian War. King George III is portrayed as a lush who’s always bathing or, in one especially silly scene, stretching, with another actor’s legs playing his own. Boston’s revolutionary activity – opposition to the Stamp Act, the Boston Tea Party, Paul Revere’s ride – gets broad Boston accents Mark Wahlberg would approve. Tom Paine makes a quick appearance.

The war years fly by after some shivering at Valley Forge and during the Delaware River crossing. Another major character, a slave of Washington’s named Bill, emerges – played by the actor playing Washington. He offers his life to the cause, but wants to serve as a free man.

For my tastes, history gets muscled aside for laughs too often. Comic bits such as Tea Partiers struggling to open crates, Frenchmen smoking cigarettes, a scene with John and Abigail Adams leading to The Addams Family TV show theme, and the victorious rebels chanting “U-S-A! U-S-A!” nudge us to chuckle, but hardly serve the cause. A solemn rendition of “My Country ‘Tis of Thee” ends the show in the right spirit, however.

Theatre Unspeakable hopes to find a permanent Philadelphia home for The American Revolution and other devised work, and will be an interesting addition to the physical theater scene, which tends to more adult and abstract work by Pig Iron Theatre Company, New Paradise Laboratories, and other Fringe Festival favorites.