Review: ASK ME ANYTHING, VAULT Festival

The Paper Birds tackle all the important stuff and then some in their groundbreaking and format defying Ask Me Anything. After asking teenagers all around the country to send them their problems and questions as if they were agony aunts, they noticed that, generally, their letters were falling into broader categories with some other thorny topics in the mix. The result is a moving, open, and honest project about the legitimate issues of today's youth.

Jemma McDonnell directs Georgie Coles, Rosie Doonan, and Kylie Perry while they deliver their answers in their own singular ways to evergreen queries about sex, relationship, independence, music, and parents. While Coles reads her teenage diaries and Perry shoots her own 90s sit-com, Doonan transforms the trio into the coolest band around with her self-penned songs. The piece boasts a series of tricks like live video feeds and Bridge IT, an AI who helps to clarify terms and gives a technological hand to the company.

Among talks about how to book a GP appointment and how to do your taxes, questions about motherhood and identity pop up along with subjects like racism, sexuality, anger, self-acceptance, and validation from peers. The women respond with candour and frankness, bringing in other people in video form when they don't feel they're qualified enough. The crowd is treated to a beautiful and overwhelmingly positive case study of individuals helping each other selflessly.

As they understand how difficult it is to actually solve these doubts once and for all, a tougher and harrowing theme comes up: mental health. It's heartbreaking to see terribly young people having to struggle with their own minds. As they share some disconcerting statistic of teen suicide, they finish their portrait of a generation who turns out to be strikingly different from the usual Boomer-led portrayal we see on newspapers (we know, how shocking).

As an audience, we are introduced to the real youth of today. Their worries, fears, and passions are far deeper and more complex than they're given credit for, and Ask Me Anything becomes a show that should be seen by Baby Boomers and teenagers alike, as well as everything in-between. Its multi-media nature and the personal approach of the actors make it a comfortable and cosy event, and by the end one feels like The Paper Birds have created a public service of artistic proportions rather than a simple play with music.

Ask Me Anything runs at VAULT Festival until 16 February.

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