American Squatter

Venue 10 – Planetarium Auditorium

In this prequel to last year’s Jesus in Montana, Barry Smith takes us through the events of his life that lead him to become an American squatter in London during the 1980’s. It seems that after returning to America from a couple of years of drugged out filthy squatting, he then began his journey towards spirituality, and finds the return of Jesus Christ living in Montana as 70 year old ex-Pedophile.

It’s funny to watch the prequel having seen both shows, but American Squatter is also a good stand alone performance. Like Jesus in Montana, American Squatter is based on Smith’s own life. He delivers a charismatic and fun performance, weaving us through his interesting tale. Again, he makes good use of multimedia aids, mixing old home videos, photos and a power point presentation to illustrate how Smith + punk music + skateboarding + a rebellion to an over obsessed with cleaning and straightening father = a clean cut American kid dying his hair, growing some dreads, forgetting a shower exists, discovering acid and living in a filthy squatter camp in London. A fun show, but then again, who doesn’t like to see someone make fun of themselves.

- Cindy Murdoch UMFM