A solo performance that turns animal imitation into something stranger and more reflective, Wild Thing! races through thousands of endangered and extinct species in under an hour. Created and performed by Tom Bailey, it blends physical theatre, sound, and absurd humor into something that gradually shifts tone. What starts playful doesn’t quite stay that way.

About the Show

Wild Thing! is built around a simple premise: one performer, one hour, and tens of thousands of endangered or extinct species. From imagined creatures like the “Uglyface Scorpionfish” to the “Darth Vader Giant Pill Millipede,” the piece constructs a fast-moving sequence of animal impressions based only on names rather than realistic observation.

The performance unfolds like a nature documentary set on fast-forward, combining physical theatre and sound into a continuous stream of transformation. As the number of species grows and the pace accelerates, the tone begins to shift—from playful absurdity into something quieter and more reflective.

Created as a follow-up to Mechanimal’s earlier work Vigil, the piece continues the company’s exploration of nature, movement, and existence, set against the backdrop of what it describes as an “Age of Extinction.”

Cast & Creatives

• Tom Bailey
  Creator and performer. Uses body and voice to construct a wide range of imagined and observed animal behaviors on stage.
• Mechanimal
  UK-based theatre company focused on live and immersive works, exploring how life moves, adapts, and exists in a changing world.

Why Go

It leans into something deliberately off. The logic is loose, the references are odd, and the performance doesn’t try to ground itself in realism. Instead, it keeps building—more animals, more names, more movement—until the accumulation starts to feel like the point.

Somewhere along the way, the humor thins out. Not entirely, but enough that what’s left lands differently. It becomes less about recognizing animals and more about sitting with the scale of what’s being listed, repeated, and, in some sense, lost.