Ohio arrives with a formidable pedigree with Francesca Moody, the same producer of Fleabag, Baby Reindeer and two recent shows in the BOV main house, Kathy and Stella Solve a Murder and How To Win At History. It comes to Bristol following a sell-out stint at the Edinburgh Fringe and Young Vic in London.

As theatre, it is a curious piece that needs to be taken at face value. Created and performed by husband-and-wife team Abigail and Shaun Bengson, aka indie folk duo The Bengsons, it tells the story of their lives, although mainly of Shaun’s. The tone adopted resembles Ted Talk, albeit one conducted very much with a glass half full.

The themes frequently delve into darkness, encompassing the loss of religious faith and ability to grapple with a degenerative illness; however, the quirky musical storytelling and uplifting message are hard to resist.

Abigail is softly iconoclastic; wearing dungarees and large bouncy trainers, she would not be amiss on a children’s television programme. Shaun cuts a more sober, reflective tone, with muted western style shirt and round specs. He smiles benignly a lot. Their joyful arrival on stage suggests that they might have taken a bagful of happy pills just before the audience arrived. From the outset we are told that they are both disabled and that Abigail will stim during the show, which helps explain the unorthodox movement over the next seventy-five minutes.

The principal story concerns Sean’s brush with genetics. Firstly, with his devoutly Christian upbringing being the son of a pastor, and then from his inherited hearing condition.

The staging is simple, and although director Caitlin Sullivan has inserted a measure of dynamism by introducing props including an overhead projector and some mobile lights, it essentially remains a gig.

The main difference in presentation includes the use of ‘creative captioning’. To the uninitiated, these are subtitles but with a fuller explanation of what is happening on stage, including a concise description of what a cappella singing or musical style is being performed (‘upbeat, introspective’). As a mechanism to break free from this being a music concert it works, but only up to a point. Accessibility is a concern for those not immediately facing the screen, and there is a disconcerting temptation to read what is being said rather than listen to or watch the performance.

The music is well performed, but the emphasis on creating musical loops necessitates Abigail to break away from eye contact with the audience and instead look at the laptop screen in front of her. The songs are often whimsical, sometimes twee, but undoubtedly sincere in their autobiographical narrative. And we do learn an awful lot about tinnitus and experience what it must be like with this condition.

Ultimately, the show resembled a slightly theatrical musical concept album, which allowed the performers to work on a larger canvas than would be possible in a concert. The show succeeds as an exercise in explaining how to live with the hand that we are dealt.

★★★☆☆     Bryan J Mason   5 September 2025