We sent our reviewer James to watch Mind How You Go

As the house lights go down and the piano strikes up, Michelle Burke enters, sparkling in silver jacket, bright pink hair and emerald DMs, opening her bright yellow suitcase on the glittering memories that are to come.

This is a deceptively simple personal storytelling show with songs and as such, much of it is reliant on the execution, which Burke manages with aplomb. Her ease as a storyteller lets the crowd relax into a convivial atmosphere of Irish grannies polishing churches and watching Murder She Wrote, and disco lights dazzling whilst watching her dad’s band play before pulling on the heartstrings with material of a sometimes darker shade. Burke is equally at home singing and the collection of original songs lace the memoir together beautifully.

James Ross’s piano provides delicate accompaniment, always an important presence, but never overpowering, and Ross himself is very game when he momentarily becomes one of Burke’s American Cousins in suitably ridiculous wig.

The set design by Jessica Brettle is straightforward, but strong and, aided by Gerda Stevenson’s light direction, Burke makes very effective use of it. A tall, old, wooden stepladder forming a church steeple, with a length of rope which amongst other things is most powerfully used as a bell pull, ringing out the Angelus bells, beautiful but also heralding the ‘hint of death calling you home’.

This is reflective of a great strength of the show – its deft handling of tone. While many of the stories are light and humorous, these are strikingly counter pointed with a number of darker moments in recent history from the British occupation of Ireland right up to the current atrocities in Palestine. Incredibly, this never feels forced and rather weaves neatly into the wider themes of belonging and resistance in the show.

Mind How You Go is a treasure trove of fascinating tales that I only wish we could have had a little more time with. And this is perhaps the main issue with the piece. Burke is eager to tell us so many great stories that there is only really time to look fleetingly at most of them. Much as it would be a shame to lose any of them, a deeper dive into a handful, drilling into connections made and lost, and the universality of the human experience, would perhaps have made the show a little stronger. In particular, more on the ‘nuns!’ – which garnered a satisfying ripple of amusement from the engaged crowd, but which expertly led into a heartbreaking tale of loss across the Atlantic – would have been very welcome.

As it is, Mind How You Go, is a delightful, thoughtful, well-constructed hour which manages to be both poignant and funny without slipping into sentimentality, and leaves you hopeful for the promise of a long, happy life and a beautiful Blue Rinse Heaven.

RATING: **** 4 Stars

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