Presenting a gloriously silly and wildly inventive show, Tom Bailey attempts to do impressions of 48,000 species in the space of an hour. Approaching the difficult topic of extinction with a fresh and urgent new lens, Wild Thing! is both a riotous parody of our digital obsessions and a powerful call to action, taking audiences through a theatrical extinction ritual. Summerhall (Tech Cube 0) from 31st July – 25th August 2025 at 13:30.
- Thank you for chatting with A Young(ish) Perspective! Introduce us to who you are and what you’re doing at the Edinburgh Fringe this year?
I’m Tom Bailey, creator and performer of Wild Thing! at Summerhall Tech Cube 0, 13.30, everyday of the Fringe.
- A Youngish Perspective platforms accessible arts and champions the huge scope of different perspectives – can you tell us about the show you’re taking to Edinburgh Festival Fringe as if you’re flyering to both a young first-time-Fringe goer and a festival veteran returning every year?
I like animals. But 10 years ago, in drama training, my teacher said I was crap at doing animal impressions. So I decided to make show about it doing as many animal impressions as I can in the space of an hour. The source of the animal names is a scientific red list of currently extinct and endangered species. Many of these names are poetic, comic, sad, absurd and stupid. So I made a poignant and tragicomic show about a guy trying and failing to perform these names. In 2019, the Wild Thing! predecessor, Vigil, did really well and the Edinburgh Fringe and has toured internationally. Since the pandemic, the list on which it is based has doubled in size. I felt compelled to make a new show about this, exploring what extinction and biodiversity mean in a post pandemic, Trump-fuelled world. Let’s see what happens…
- The last time you attempted this task was in 2019 and since then the ‘Red List’ has expanded by over 20,000, how do you plan to attack this new task given the expanded list?
I think with more heart and maybe a bit more imagination. I kind of feel that’s a right response to a massively difficult topic. We take more species into the show, and perhaps reflect more on what it now means to be making this show in a post-pandemic world.
- How do you plan on balancing the grave nature of the ‘Red List’ with the silly nature of imitating animals?
I guess my approach is not about trying to make fun of something that’s kind of not funny – the death of lots of animals. I want that to be clear. Humour plays a couple of roles in the show. First, some of the so-called ‘scientific’ species names that have been given to the natural world are down-right absurd and funny – for instance, a Miss Kerala Look-a-Like. There’s laughter at the absurdity and stupidity of human naming of other species. Secondly, I found that it’s perhaps more possible to drop into a place of meditation, contemplation and heart-space if there’s kind of a gateway of laughter. Having a counterpoint first allows us to go to sadness in a different way. So that’s where the fun in the show lies. Amid such relentlessly apocalyptic environmental news we’ve got to find some laughter – as part of finding our way out of this mess.
- Who would your surprise dream audience member be?
The Apparently Kid.