It Could Have Been Me

Cal Wilson’s new show, It Could Have Been Me, runs on one simple idea: ‘Who would I be now if life had turned out differently?’ Wilson asks this question of herself, presenting a number of alternative, and very funny, versions of herself based on what might have been.

The show begins with an imagined conversation between present-day Wilson and her 16-year-old self, effectively introducing the audience to this younger self, the starting point for the person she has become.

We are then taken through some key phases and decisions in her life. Each time, Wilson takes on the persona she chose not to become and all these characters are hilarious.

First, there’s the incredibly safety-conscious children’s entertainer, the result of never leaving her first job or her home town. The incongruous mix of the marshal-style and the whimsical is a rich vein for deadpan one-liners and running jokes. It also sets up a lot of audience interaction, which Wilson skillfully maintains throughout the rest of the show.

We also meet the Wilson who just can’t give up on boyfriends who are bad for her. This character’s increasingly drunk eulogy has people weeping with laughter.

We also meet the male version of Wilson, an Olympic-level, sex-obsessed sleazeball. Then there’s the incredibly earnest radical feminist, who delivers some extremely funny spoof womyn’s poetry (if that’s not a contradiction in terms). Sixteen-year-old Wilson is also back a few times to contribute diary entries or fashion advice.

While there are strong elements of stereotype in each of these characters, they run near enough to reality to be familiar and very entertaining. Wilson also maintains enough links between them that they are each recognisable aspects of one psyche. You do get the impression that all these personalities might really be rocketing around in the back of her brain somewhere.

As the show develops, these characters start to meet each other and they are not always friends. As they heckle each other and bicker, the costume changes become more frenetic and ludicrous. As they debate the quality of a particular Billy Joel album, or the integrity of each others’ publishing careers, Wilson finds ingenious and unexpected ways to flip between crumpled veil and louche moustache. This energy builds until the show reaches its hysterical finale, involving all the characters as well as the real Wilson.

It Could Have Been Me is an hour of highly entertaining character comedy and stand-up that illustrates how we never really leave our choices behind.