For Cal Wilson, Undercurrents refers to all the inner thoughts and secret worries that are bubbling away just below the surface. Or in Cal’s words the mad peddling of two otters and an eggbeater.
Much of the show revolves around tales of parenting her five-year-old son. Stories of becoming a human bin for leftover food and going to the bathroom with someone else get laughs from the crowd, but the biggest reactions come from the tales of her son’s childish quirks and eccentric behaviours as he changes identities to a drawer and a ghost.
Wilson also chatters about her love of Christmas – of how to bypass ever taking down your Christmas tree and the top secret espionage mission involved in having Santa around for the big day. She also gathers material from the various ways she tortures and torments her husband, with odd seduction techniques and an annoyingly high-pitched voice that she only uses to talk to her best friend, and drive her husband insane.
As a New Zealand ex-pat living in Australia, Wilson also takes time out to reflect on things she has discovered in our country, such as our pride for really big things in small towns and our skill for creating interesting turns of phrase. She used the latter to take a break from planned material and get the audience involved. Her interaction with the crowd is gentle and inviting, providing hilarious results. Her other attempt at improvisation, trying to find other words for vagina, may have stretched on a tad too long, Wilson always ready to reign the show back in.
While the show may not have flowed strongly from beginning to end, Wilson’s never fading grin and bright and bubbly presence kept it alight.
BY GLORIA BRANCATISANO
