Reviews 2016
Reviews 2016
✭✭✭✭✭
by Jayson McDonald, directed by Jeff Culbert
Black Sheep Theatre, Ottawa Fringe Festival,
The Courtroom, Ottawa
June 16-25, 2016
The first thing to do regarding Magic Unicorn Island is to buy tickets immediately. Jayson McDonald’s play has won awards at fringe festivals across Canada since it premiered at the London Fringe in 2014 under the title World War Three. Now it has finally come to Ottawa. Don’t miss the chance to see one of the most wildly inspired shows out there by one of Canada’s most talented performers.
The title Magic Unicorn Island in no way will prepare you for the feat of imagination that opens the show. McDonald presents us with a rather cool young god doing something he has never done before, namely creating the universe. This nearly inarticulate god, surprised at his own powers, mumbles until his syllables coalesce into the name for what he has just made. He makes the sun so bright, even he has to wear sunglasses to continue his work.
McDonald’s creation story does not exclude evolution. In the next extraordinary sequence he shows man evolved from a divine spark implanted in mud to a fish to a mammal to an ape until, through many transformations, he arrives at self-awareness and higher intelligence.
McDonald’s show is worth seeing for this introduction alone. But, this really is only an introduction to give the rest of the action a cosmic context. McDonald fast-forwards 100,000 years to an ancient old man with a Southern accent and a wry sense of irony who fills us in on how man’s stewardship of Earth has gone. The answer is, “Not well”. Global warming has caused oceans to rise so far that large parts of the the US including most of the eastern seaboard, Florida and California are now underwater. Besides this huge numbers of plant and animal species have died off.
McDonald segues next to a young boy presenting a report to his school class on conflict in human society. McDonald’s student is a comic incidence of someone who has not narrowed down his topic because he begins with the first recorded war between Sumer and Elam in 2700bc and embarks on an account of every know war since then until his teacher stops him. The student does suggests that maybe maybe the best response to all these wars, all started by adults, would be for children to form their own country dedicated to peace and love.
It turns out that that is exactly what happens. The children and young adults flee their home countries and occupy an previously uninhabited island. After several name changes the democratically run government decides on Magic Unicorn Island for its official name. We learn this from the geeky but enthusiastic 14-year-old camp counsellor type who has been elected the country’s president.
Meanwhile The United Empire, a fascist empire that makes war on any country it feels is withholding its land and resources, has set its eye on conquering the few remaining independent countries left. This plan for world domination eventually sets it on a collision course with Magic Unicorn Island.
As a performer McDonald is a master not only of physical comedy but of creating instant portraits of a wide array of characters through changes of voice and gesture. The resonant, smooth-voiced ruler of The United Empire is no typical villain. His calm delivery contrasts with the terrible implications of what he says. The young president of Magic Unicorn Island is so comically innocent, we wonder how he will be able to deal with so coldly cruel an adversary. McDonald’s cool dude of a god doesn’t want his name invoked in any conflict and can’t bear to watch the conflict between the Empire and the Island.
For all its comedy and whimsy, McDonald’s play is a serious contemplation on how mankind lost its ability to celebrate the wonder of life and creation and arrived at a state of constant conflict and exploitation. The face-off between The Empire and the Island is one between power and materialism on the one hand and innocence and idealism on the other. McDonald’s dramatic parable may be from 2014 but it has only become more relevant with time. Fantastically imaginative writing brought to life by an extraordinarily gifted performer makes for a show that should top any must-see list. See it while it’s in Ottawa while we jealous Torontonians will have to hope it arrives sometime in the near future in our own city.
After Ottawa, Magic Unicorn Island can be seen next at the Saskatoon Fringe July 28-August 6.
©Christopher Hoile
Note: This review is a Stage Door exclusive.
Photo: Jayson McDonald.
For tickets, visit http://ottawafringe.com.
2016-06-17
Magic Unicorn Island