Underbelly

If you're not too familiar with the Beat movement, you might find yourself a bit lost like I was at Underbelly, currently playing at The Cultch.

Still, it's a marvel to witness Jayson McDonald's hour-long one man show go from zero to sixty in a matter of seconds, his stamina never waning and his seamless weaving of characters taking the audience on a trippy ADHD-like journey into a world gone by. The language is hyper poetic and challenges the audience to elevate themselves to a whole other level.

With a sparse stage, it's just McDonald, his numerous characters, and a variety of monologues that I would dare any detractor to try and memorize and perform the way McDonald manages to do effortlessly.  The lighting and sound effects were brilliantly and tightly done, shifting from a police siren to a light coming through an open doorway.

With so little to look at, the audience is left to use their imagination and to focus on the superb language and words of the script that come bursting off McDonald's tongue with a cadence and rhythm to match the period that the show has immersed us in.

Underbelly plays at the Cultch until March 30th.