Like Animals

A dolphin trying to speak English. A parrot saying ‘Be good, see you tomorrow, I love you’. A woman spending a lifetime proving it’s not a trick. 
 
Like Animalsis a funny and poignant investigation into love and communication in human (and not so human) relationships, directed by Herald Angel Award winner Ellie Dubois (No Show). Inspired by true stories of scientists working to communicate with animals, it blends surreal comedy with moments of tenderness and vulnerability to explore the impossibility of ever truly knowing someone else. 
 
The show weaves together two stories of human-animal communication around a central narrative of performers Kim and Pete’s own real-life relationship, glimpsing some of their miscommunications, missed signals and crossed wires. Their story allows the audience to see themselves in the joyful and painful moments we all experience and offers counterpoint and comparison to the human-animal stories. 
 
First, we see Alex the parrot who worked for thirty years with Irene the scientist. Each night they would say to each other ‘Be good, see you tomorrow, I love you.’ As their relationship moved between parent and child, teacher and student and husband and wife, Alex became manipulative, using the language he learned to challenge Irene. 
 
We also meet Peter the dolphin and Margaret – the woman who lived with him in a flooded house and tried to teach him English. Working together in a bizarre NASA-funded experiment, their relationship garnered much attention in the press on the assumed sexual element of their association with headlines such as ‘The Woman who lived in sin with a dolphin’ (The Telegraph, June 2014). 
 
Each of these true-life narratives explores a complex relationship with its own uniquely funny, strange and touching world. MJ McCarthy’s delicate score and Rachel O’Neill’s surreal, contemporary design draws audiences into the joy and heartbreak that happens when we try, and often fail, to understand another being.