Below the Belt

Below the BeltLess is more in Below the Belt, the starkly simplistic, uncomfortably accurate dark comedy, currently in performances at the Access Theater. A pointed take on corporate culture and the unrest that lies within society as it struggles to break from the confines it places on itself, Richard Dresser’s absurdist script is acted by a cast so skilled in their craft that this critic was actually squirming in her seat by the end of the show.Below the Belt centers around three men working for a large, unnamed company. Dobbit and Hanrahan are checkers, and their job is exactly what it sounds like. They check work other people do and type reports about it. Dobbit (Ara Shehigian) is fresh-faced and eager to please, and Hanrahan (Chad Brigockas) is angry and embittered, determined to dislike everyone and turn everything they say against themselves. They are supervised by Merkin (Larry Preston), who is the epitome of almost everyone’s nightmare boss – passive aggressive, falsely cheerful and unable to accomplish anything on his own other than create discord among his employees.The men are apparently working towards an important deadline, but their accomplishments are pushed aside as they bicker over pointless, bureaucratic disagreements, such as who should be signaled by two beeps and who should be signaled by one, or if bringing someone a scone from the cafeteria is a hidden ploy to buy his friendship instead of a simple act of courtesy. As Dobbit and Hanhrahan, respectively, Brigockas and Shehigian are both excellent, breathing life into characters that require a great deal of energy and precision to act effectively. Preston also excels as their boss, complete with a softly cloying voice, a fake smile and an insincere laugh. The interactions between these men are depicted so accurately that their conversations are almost painful to listen to.Hanrahan and Dobbit clash at first, with Dobbit’s determined efforts to be cheerful and cooperative grating on the older, angrier employee’s nerves. The two slowly grow to be friendly and eventually plan to collaborate on running the company together,after Merkin is transferred to a new site. But their ambitions are stalled due to the inevitable processes of paperwork, policies and procedures. The relationships and conflicts are familiar to anyone who has worked within an office: biding one’s time in hopes of a better future, sacrificing personal wishes for the sake of the job and providing for the family, conspiring with a co-worker against a boss, and hoping for change that will come one day.That change doesn’t come in this play, though, which ends on a chilling note, almost exactly where it started. A curious mixture of Office Space and No Exit, , Below the Belt left this critic unsure whether to laugh or cry. In the end, to please everyone, she settled for a bit of both.