Wild Life FM (Unicorn Theatre)
This collaboration between Kim Noble, the guys at CAMPO, and a bunch of the most brilliant teenage musicians ever is a weird mix of the effortlessly cool (I mean, come on — Kim Noble, CAMPO, teenagers making beats and singing and playing the fucking HARP — you can’t tell me that’s not cool) and also the trying-really-hard, because there’s literally nothing that Kim Noble and CAMPO can do (or would ever want to do) to come between a teenager and their awkwardness.
And that’s beautiful. Honestly, that is the absolute heart and fucking soul of this show — the very best thing about it. It’s just some awkward kids swallowing back their awkwardness as best they can, telling us about their feelings and how those translate to songs.
While they take deep breaths and stumble over their words now and again, the rest of it is pretty slick. The graphics are fantastic — fish and gifs and great big screens of colour to accompany the ‘square talk’ of a young synaesthete. There is gorgeous, luscious singing, and both the musicianship and the technical production is flawless. It remains a kinda laissez-faire, chilled vibe though. There’s a chance for one lucky audience member to get a tour of the set and meet everyone on stage, having a chat and shaking hands like the new friend at the party. Or maybe like a big bedroom hangout, or the common room during a free period. If anything, the most surprising thing is how they all seem to get on really well, supporting one another and giving space to each person to have their moment, including the beatboxer who closes the show and talks about not ever really fitting in, and not always having somewhere to stay either. This glimpse of real, frightening hardship was like a second bookend to the opening recording of some bloke telling them they should make a show about tuition fees and cuts to education maintenance allowance. *eye roll emoji* While those moments of harsh reality were warmly, softly presented, the real social friction came from fairly cruel prank calls. adults set up for laughs, so we could see that the stage was still a space for resistance. On their terms.
I didn’t like the prank calls because I am an old has-been who can’t bear cringe comedy in any form. That’s why I’ve never managed to throw my knickers at a Kim Noble show like so many others have (I just think he comes across as a bit of a bellend) and I wanted to fast-forward through these bits here, even as I could see how much the cast were loving it, and even as I know full well that working with Kim Noble and planning a bunch of prank calls would probably be an absolute fucking DREAM for a 15 year old. I mean, if we want to be nit-picky about authenticity and stuff, then they were clearly pre-recorded, but it was a THEATRE SHOW and and I should definitely lighten the fuck up re ‘authenticity’. There’s only so much disbelief that warrants suspending.
Overall, big, big love for Wild Life FM. Big, big love for kids and their tunes. 0/10 for anyone who pays attention to me complaining about prank calls.
