A play that could spur rappers to squash their beef

It's appropriate that on the week that Peter N. Bailey debuted his play "Tyson's Song," the feud between two of the world's most famous rappers - Drake and Kendrick Lamar, in case you've been living under a rock - reached fever pitch. Although Bailey's characters don't name check either of those artists, the same competitive, toxic spirit behind the rappers' beef can be found in their much more modest lives.

- GLENN SUMI

"Tyson's Song" plays out as Tyson, left, played by Kyle Brown, and Bryan, played by Jamar Adams-Thompson, wait for a TTC bus on their way home from a party.

It's late at night somewhere in Toronto and two long-time friends the intense Tyson (Kyle Brown) and the seemingly more easygoing Bryan (Jamar Adams-Thompson) -have just missed an all-night TTC bus home. (The fact that they have to wait the length of the play for another bus is just one of its many accuracies.)

The two have come from a party, but things haven't gone well. Bryan is about to leave town the next day and he wants to know that Tyson is going to be all right.

Tyson, it turns out, has recently been in jail.

We don't know why he was incarcerated, but his sudden bursts of anger suggest any number of reasons. Over the years, Bryan has tried to help his friend by finding him employment, but Tyson has always given up on the jobs, including his most recent one as a landscaper.

Gradually, as they take swigs from a shared bottle of beer and wait for the bus, they open up about things they've been avoiding.