REVIEWED BY ISLA TEAGUE
EDITED BY CHARLOTTE FRASER
As someone familiar with the Motley Bauhaus I felt quite comfortable entering the theatre and settling in. However, that quickly changed as I spied an imposing clown-like statue in the wings, covered in American flag motifs. Then it moved. On stilts Richard Mealy moved in a terrifying, robot-like fashion, coming out of the shadows, looming over me and my friend and scaring the life out of us. A creepy remix of ‘Pure Imagination’ played in the background creating a circus like feel, but it was us under the microscope rather than the performer. As more audience members entered the theatre, Mealy’s ode to everything USA began to imitate our actions – miming drinking a beer or waving – unsettlingly drawing a correlation between Australia and America, suggesting we may not be all that dissimilar after all.
Written by Mealy and directed by Barney Pollock, DisUnited States is a satirical one-man show in its second run after the Melbourne Comedy Festival. Following Richard Mealy himself, he attempts to coerce the audience into allowing him to return to his homeland, America. In his touring group including himself and six other Americans, he portrays slices of the American dream (or more accurately American nightmare), the current realities of being an American citizen and ferociously argues that the audience must love the USA and therefore himself. In doing so he questions whether it is possible to support a country that is so flawed and grapples with finding his own identity within this fundamentally broken system.
DisUnited States attacks American society from laws and propaganda to guns and roundabouts, not avoiding self-deprecation. Garnering boisterous laughter from the audience, he comments on Americans’ lack of geographic understanding, economic inequality, 9/11, conservatism, gun laws and dislike of communism. Rather than shying away from the horrors of America, the show instead laughs at both how it represents itself and how it is received.
These facets of American life are articulated through six American archetypes fully inhabited by Mealy: a pro firearms teacher; Destiny, the ultimate manic pixie dream girl; a gullible Minnesotan fisherman; Victor, an overzealous fitness coach; a PTA Karen; and a 98-year-old café owner. In these various caricatures he expertly adjusts his accent, language and vocalisation in addition to his gait, movement and physicality, completely embodying each character. While at times annoying, absurd or questionable, all the characters were both exceedingly comedic yet contained an underlying melancholy. Balancing the line between hilarity and seriousness, Mealy maintained this tone throughout the show, allowing the audience to consider the failures of America and its relation to Australia even within the comedy.
The show was accompanied by well-timed and comedic sound, not only setting the atmosphere for each slice of American life with didactic sounds of a Minnesotan lake and average American high school but also heightened the absurdity of Mealy’s job to convince the audience of American supremacy. Whether it was the perfectly coordinated sound effects of a gun being loaded and shot or the repeated ‘All I Do Is Win’ by DJ Khaled the sound design really nailed the hilarious tone. Complimenting this was the lighting which unsurprisingly repped the red, white and blue, creating a feeling of rave-like fanatism for America, especially in the opening sequence. Notably later on, Mealy’s exaggerated bogan interpretation of the average Australian was spotlighted with green, completely separating it from the other identities. Through these characterisations, Mealy continues to remind the audience how, despite a skewed interpretation by America, Australians aren’t so distant from being another comparable caricature.
What I found the most enjoyable about Mealy’s performance was the audience involvement throughout the show, which was not only fun but important for a theatrical performance about America at this time. The audience was extremely lively and reactive which was only encouraged by Mealy’s consistent pandering to us, at multiple points he would desperately nod and ask for reassurance from us that we liked America or that we liked him. This created a performance that was truly unique to the audience of that night as each of our responses shaped his act. As Victor the fitness coach, various audience members including myself were asked about good things that had happened that week in order for him to demonstrate the importance of positivity. Twisting our words ridiculously, he ended up taking incredibly negative perspectives on our experiences and ended up just teaching us how to punch out our feeling. This of course resulted in a bloody, broken hand for Victor due to his hollow bones, and I won’t dare to think of what that would cost him in the American healthcare system will cost him.
As the 98-year-old café owner, Mealy developed his character through full-body physicality, totally becoming an elderly man complete with a hunch, tremors and vague tangents of which included an affair with the Viper King. The character continued to lose track of the customer he was attending to, making his way through different audience members as the customer appeared to keep changing seats. The continued inclusion of the whole audience was incredibly entertaining and allowed the stage to expand to the entire theatre.
Mealy utilised the audience to prove his scathing points about America. This unfolded in an ingenious and most enjoyable way through Mealy giving the entire audience nerf guns. I have never had the opportunity to shoot at a performer on stage, but now I’ve had a taste, I don’t know how to go back to regular theatre! While very entertaining, like the entirety of Mealy’s show it has an underlying severity and explicates how America’s tolerance of gun violence is exceptionally problematic, and how society is complicit in its ongoing harm. This was also demonstrated through the character of the Minnesotan fisherman, whose unfortunate stupidity was cause of a lot of side-splitting laughter, yet a tragic illustration of poor education in America. Recounting an absurd story of hot dogs, fishing and sharks evolving to use computers, Mealy continues to embed his pointed message that the American education system and community attitudes cause as much harm as the economic and social institutions.
Mealy puts on an impressive performance with a surprising amount of depth within the biting satire and comedic wit, bringing the characters to life with his entire body and voice. His complete commitment to these characters had me fully believing he was an airheaded theatre goer then an elderly man within the span of an hour, in addition to consistently having the audience in peals of laughter. You can only hope for a third return of DisUnited States to experience this masterclass in acting for yourselves!
The encore season of DisUnited States played at the Motley Bauhaus June 26 – 27, 2026.
ISLA TEAGUE (they/them) is a dancer and performing artist from Melbourne/Naarm, participating in both community and university theatre scenes. Currently studying a Bachelor of Arts (Criminology) at University of Melbourne, they are in their first year of reviewing for The Dialog.
CHARLOTTE FRASER (she/her) is a writer, performer and editor based in Melbourne. She holds a BA in English and Theatre Studies and is currently completing her Masters degree at the University of Melbourne. Charlotte is also the 2026 Dialog Editor.
The Dialog is supported by Union House Theatre
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