Little Animals, presented at the Traverse Studio by Fern Culture in co-production with Pentabus and in association with Gulbenkian Arts Centre, is a beautifully told, deeply absorbing story that commands your full attention.
It’s a one-person show without any of the usual theatre paraphernalia: no set, no lights, no sound to hide behind, and that’s incredibly exposing. Fortunately, Paul Ready knows how to tell a story. Seated in a simple circle in a rehearsal room, Ready opens with a disarming touch, playfully apologising for the Spartan surroundings and making the casual excuse that they hadn’t realised the Fringe was on.
Ready’s interaction with the audience, inviting us in, getting people to take part, and posing questions for us to answer directly, is one of the strengths of the performance. Ready makes us feel they are talking only to us, as though a close friend is opening up, recounting the story of their best friend and what happened to them, and why they haven’t gone to the funeral. I actually thought this might be a true story until they referenced working as a banker and not an actor.
Ready is incredibly likeable and acts genuinely bewildered by their friend’s deepening despair over all the environmental destruction. At one point, Ready assumes the friend’s voice, repeating over and over again, “I am an animal and my home is being destroyed”. You genuinely believe that you are in that shopping centre with them, dying of embarrassment as your friend seems to have gone crazy and gets arrested.
Conceived and written by Ready, Little Animals is tightly constructed. It opens with the tragedy of the death before stepping back in time to shared school days and leaping forward to family life, carefully building the emotional tension. While produced by Fern Culture, a new company dedicated to empowering climate stories, the overarching message never feels preachy. Ready becomes the everyman, just like us: we recycle, we do our bit, but gradually the same question keeps coming to the fore: ‘Is that enough?’
Delicately directed by Caroline Steinbeis, with just the right pace, pause, humour, and action, Little Animals is a masterclass in acting. Reminiscent of the old-school troubadour who travelled around the country entertaining folk, it proves that you don’t actually need a stage and all the extras to tell a great story.
Listings and ticket information can be found hereÂ
