Writer: Leigh Douglas
Director: Fiona Kingwill
Imagine having access to one of the most powerful men in the world, a confidant, gatekeeper and public face of his office – the potential for dramatic storytelling is limitless. Leigh Douglas doesn’t take all of the options available to her in this 65-minute satire, ROTUS: Receptionist of the United States, a solo show, which transfers from the Edinburgh fringe to Park Theatre when the recently inexplicable nature of daily American politics rather overshadows this far tamer piece about double-dealing in the West Wing. Perhaps stepping back from reality could have had more power than a young woman drastically out of her depth.
Chastity Quirke is hired as receptionist to the new Republican President of the United States (PotUS) where she is determined to make her mark, reaffirming her own self-importance. Adored by PotUS, Chastity is soon tasked with keeping an eye on her colleagues and reporting back on any disloyalty, a task she relishes until the administration takes an unexpected turn.
There are lots of really smart ideas in ROTUS, and Douglas spots plenty of opportunities to mock the exaggerated seriousness of everything from the cutesy apple-pie sorority girl types who get hired to the blandly interchangeable old men and to the sham American values that scream about liberty and US greatness but regress and oppress. And ROTUS begins some of those conversations, but without any certainty on finishing them or what this confluence of socio-political commentary could collectively say.
Perhaps most interesting, and most underdeveloped, is the role of women in current American politics and why young college graduates in positions of authority must also be demonstrably sexualised and defined by their reproductive success. Both Chastity, as an acknowledged beautiful young woman, and her female colleagues have trajectories defined by their gender, marital status and timing of any pregnancy to exploit and reaffirm their political capital, entrenching an inherently misogynistic view of power dynamics in Washington However, Douglas could say much more about why women of all ages support these policies and vote for men like PotUS as well as using the satire to explore the entrenched sexism and dangerous potential consequences of degrading people by race and gender in American politics.
ROTUS also needs to step further away from a simple sketch about Trump, where the build-up to the 6 January Capitol attack is a scrambled and reactive ending instead of a fully considered outcome for the story Douglas has been telling. Instead there could be a focus on a more heavily fictionalised administration where the role of receptionist is the focus and what it means to work in an environment where Chastity is required to betray her colleagues on a daily basis, manipulating men of all ages for the good of the USA and what it really means to work for the President more as an office than as a person. Douglas has a strong character and a great concept, but real American politics is almost beyond satire; thinking more about the nature of power and the impact of working so closely with it might be far more believable.
Runs until 7 February 2026
