Wail

Wail is a show about whales (geddit?). More specifically, it’s a show about humpback whales, the soul singers of the marine world. Although lots of whales wail, it’s the humpbacks who have the most complex song – though no one’s 100% sure why they sing.

Wail is also a show about humans. Why do we turn so often to music as an emotional outlet? Could the mystery of whale song tell us something about our own impulse to wail? 

Little Bulb Theatre’s Dominic Conway and Clare Beresford are whale (and human) enthusiasts, and today they’re here to educate us on their favourite subject. The show they perform is somewhere between a lecture and a gig, blending facts with music, humour and some endearingly shonky outfits. 

Away from the performers who have accompanied them in previous Little Bulb shows, Conway and Beresford prove a winning double act. Ad-libbing and bouncing off one another, they make up for the flimsiness of some of their material with the infectious joy of their presence. One moment, they’re hilariously re-enacting whale mating rituals; the next, they have us all joining in with a boisterous whale chorus. Warning: there’s a lot of shrieking.

It’s the sort of show that Forest Fringe—essential as ever—is so brilliant at hosting: rough, ready and utterly loveable. In its current state, Wail still has the feel of a work-in-progress, but it’s a creative journey that Little Bulb gleefully drag us along on.