American Poodle

American Poodle is a pairing of two short pieces, one looking at American history through British eyes, the other at Britain as perceived by a naive American.

Snowball, written and performed by Guy Masterson, is a monologue, concerning, mostly, the American War of Independence.

A lot of it is very funny (I particularly enjoyed the early passages from the Welsh perspective of Prince Madoc) but the bulk goes over a lot of familiar ground with no particularly pertinent modern parallels. The energy and conviction of the performance is not in doubt – I just wish the content hadn't been quite such basic history.

Splayfoot is a very different matter. Written by Brian Parks, directed by John Clancy and performed by David Calvitto, this extremely funny piece takes the American misunderstanding of British Heritage to sublimely absurd heights.

Almost nothing that this blissfully ignorant businessman experiences is as he sees it. His grasp of English history, literature, politics and culture is almost non-existent. There's a wonderfully inappropriate poem he recites to what he perceives to be a Dickensian waif. The best passage is actually about America, in particular the world-paralysing effects of American backsides.

There's a slightly raw feel to both pieces but David Calvitto's half makes it worth seeking out.