Theatre review: Miss AmeriKa, Summerhall, Edinburgh

There’s an air of cartoonish hyperreality about solo performer Mirenka Cechova’s performance, as she floats through a New York City composed of graphic novel video backdrops and soundtracked by a loping hip hop beat as an immigrant to the city.

Miss AmeriKa, Summerhall (Venue 26)

Miss AmeriKa, Summerhall, Edinburgh * * *

Here, we are told in a skipping lyrical motif which tracks the rhythm, you are “always alone, but never really alone”. Whether the finer narrative details are truthful or not, this impressionistic journey through the city tells of Cechova’s own time living in New York, before returning to Prague in the Czech Republic (where producers Spitfire Company are based).

Using film, illustration, rap, storytelling (in English and Czech) and a beautiful burst of operatic song at the end, Miss AmeriKa paints a vivid and contemporary portrait of a bustling city in which – in a historical and contemporary sense – immigrants truly aren’t alone, and where Cechkova could reinvent herself as comedian and performer McKenzie Tomski. Yet it also tells of the cultural and emotional cost of navigating a time-limited immigration system, whether that be losing touch with your own identity or choosing to live as an “illegal” and sever ties with your homeland. Dramatic impetus is limited, but this is an evocative portrait of a certain way of life.

Until 25 August

David Pollock

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