How Not to Make it in America, by Emily Steel - 9.5 out of 10
Theatre Republic
TICKETS: How Not To Make It In America, by Emily Steel | Adelaide Fringe
Uncertain of what awaits the bare stage, the audience take their seats before the lights fade. The moment arrives and the door opens and actor James Smith steps into the space: fearless, wearing angel wings and carrying a duffel bag, bringing with him New York City in 2001. Within seconds, we meet Matt, auditioning for what he believes is a gender-swapped Romeo & Juliet (hence the wings), and the story unfolds with a mix of humour, hope, and quiet tension.
How Not to Make It in America, written by local
playwright Emily Steel and directed by Corey McMahon, is simultaneously intimate
and ambitious. They’ve crafted a play filled with 28 distinct characters, each
thoughtfully and skilfully handled by Smith alone. Matt is a young Australian
actor chasing the classic dream: to “make it” on the stage. He’s followed his
girlfriend, Michelle, to New York for her internship, determined to launch a
career of his own while navigating a foreign city and an uncertain future.
The other 27 characters orbiting Matt’s world are brought to
life with clarity and nuance: the bagel vendor who serves him a buttered bagel,
the immigration lawyer, his mother and grandmother, the high school drama
teacher, Michelle, and his roommates Tom and Brian… to name a few. Over the
course of an hour, Smith shape-shifts through them all, with subtle changes in
body language, rhythm, accent, and tone, giving each role definition. It’s a
sharp and confident performance that captures the vulnerability of trying to
belong somewhere new.
Smith’s command of the material keeps the audience engaged
throughout, carrying the show with warmth, energy, and honesty. The pacing
makes the hour fly, yet it leaves space to sit with the emotional beats of
Matt’s journey. Even as darker undercurrents surface, Smith never loses the
humour or humanity – a balance that makes the story resonate long after the
lights come up.
Steel’s play opts for a structure that feels like memory: fragments
that layer and echo, slowly building a map of Matt’s world. Timelines run
alongside and over each other, circling back to one defining moment: the attack
on the Twin Towers. The gravity of the world outside gradually presses inward
as Matt and Michelle’s personal choices take on new meaning. When Matt phones
home just to say he’s safe, it’s a simple act loaded with everything left
unspoken.
The production’s technical elements deepen its emotional
texture. The lighting not only marks place and time but also mirrors shifts in
tone. The sound design subtly roots us in New York with fragments sitting just
beneath the action until, suddenly, silence falls—and its weight is
unmistakable.
With only 2 performances remaining, How Not to Make It in America is a sharp, funny, and quietly affecting piece of theatre that captures both the chaos and tenderness of chasing dreams far from home.
- Andrew Broadbent
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