Picture: Mihaela Bodlovic
Ohio continues at Upstairs at Assembly Roxy until 24 August 2025. The show then visits Bristol Old Vic (2-13 September) and London’s Young Vic (30 September-24 October).
Star rating: five stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
The Obie-award-winning Bengsons, husband and wife team Abigail and Shaun, are such an easy couple to be with, enthusiastic, welcoming. They wrote and devised Ohio, their director long-time collaborator Caitlin Sullivan, their producer Francesca Moody (Fleabag, Baby Reindeer).
Abigail exudes joy. Immediately, the audience is encouraged (it doesn’t take much) to provide a backing hum which loops into the first song.
“This show is about death,” says Abigail, cheerfully. It’s about much more than that. It’s their story, as individuals and as a couple; a story of faith (in Abigail’s case, her Judaism) and its loss (Shaun turned his back on his evangelical upbringing), a story of their life together, the story of their son’s difficult birth, the lies we often tell for convenience…
And threading through it all is the story of Shaun’s degenerative hearing loss, inherited from his family. To make the point, the backdrop captions the show (“Which we will get 95% right,” says Shaun). At one point, the audience gets to feel something of what Shaun is experiencing.
The songs are terrific, many built through on-the-spot looping (often with the help of the audience), all accompanied by Shaun’s gentle guitar playing. There are elements of indie-folk, country, sephardic music, overtone singing and something much more primeval.
Both have remarkable singing voices: Shaun’s more gentle, Abigail’s frankly astonishing, her voice, initially Joni Mitchell-esque, smoothing easily from quasi Janis Joplin and Tina Turner to sounds you may never have heard before. And her vocal range? Quite incredible.
“This show is about death,” said Abigail. Yes, it describes difficulties, like we all have, but ultimately it’s about life, communion, togetherness and joy. Ohio encompasses them all.
James Bryce
SHARE THIS POST:
Comments are closed.