The blurb for Lullaby of Scavengers didn’t really prepare me for the show, sure it mentioned that there may be some explicit content and there was something about living in a sewer and something more about a fox and a dead squirrel, and I noted that this was a show about ‘human loneliness of longing,’ – but the actual performance is extraordinarily challenging – and I like to be challenged and would fight (nicely) for the right for theatre to be provocative and transgressive, that’s what art is for – but there were definitely moments in this show that I found deeply upsetting and straight up cruel. That said, I’m glad I saw it, or rather experienced it. It’s original, unexpected and strangely moving.
Kim Noble: Lullaby for Scavengers. Credit Joanna Peterson.Noble tells his story with the help of a dead squirrel, a fox, stock images, film and clever camera work. It’s at times very funny, at times profound and at times deliberately deviant.
That Kim Noble is a genius is not in doubt, that Lullaby for Scavengers reflects humanity back to us exactly as we are, is sadly, probably true. We’re a cruel bunch and it’s hard to watch in places, but the observation that we poison, punish and kill in the name of protection is clearly made.
I left the theatre a tiny bit changed, a tiny bit furious and more than a little tearful, but then I cry at the sight of roadkill anyway, so maybe this show wasn’t made for me.
But, if provocative, transgressive thought-provoking theatre is your thing, then this is for you.
Review by Roz Wyllie
Cult comedic performance artist Kim Noble lived in a tree, down a sewer, under an insurance office desk and in an unsuspecting client’s attic.
Now he returns to Soho Theatre with the UK premiere of his critical acclaimed new show.
How do you fit into a world that doesn’t necessarily want you? A fox and his ex lover – an angry dead squirrel – are his accomplices in search of survival strategies, friendship and knowledge of what we should pass on to the next generation Noble descends deep into the sewer and abyss of human loneliness of longing and answers the question of how to deal with rodents in your attic.
Following the provocative hit shows Kim Noble Will Die and You’re Not Alone comes Part 3 of his theatrical trilogy on loneliness and connection.
Thu, 15 Sep 22 – Sat, 24 Sep 22 & Wed, 15 March 23 – Sat, 8 April 23
https://sohotheatre.com/