EDINBURGH 2021: Review: LOOKING FOR AMERICA, Assembly Showcatcher

Looking for América is a monologue performed by Federico Julián González 's and co-written by Janet Moran about his search for somewhere to call home.

Fede's family left oppression El Salvador in the late 1970s before moving to Cuba. They were happy there for many years before returning to El Salvador and then eventually resettling in Northern Ireland. It's an unusual and gripping story centred around the idea that your idea of home sometimes has to be remade.

Gonzalez brings his story to life with vivid description's of his experience of war as a child. He tells how their home would be raided up to eight times a day and this was seen as normal. Watching something on the news and seeing people described as refugees, this was when he realised that was what they were. He didn't realise his life was traumatic because it was all he had known.

It's a fascinating story that becomes all the more captivating due to Gonzalez's storytelling. There are old film clips and political history peppered throughout the show but Looking for América is very much a personal account of one particular families story.

Looking for América is available on demand through Assembly Showcatcher from 6 August.

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