Being faced with a single audience member (and that person being a reviewer), plus having to battle significant sound bleed from the next room, must be a fairly nightmarish scenario for any solo performer. Despite this, Melanie Barton produced a brave and wholehearted performance. She delivered an interesting meditation on social class and cultural identity through well-crafted poetry, folksong and impassioned discourse. Unlike many performers, her recollections of the culture of her childhood were not an exercise in empty nostalgia, and her description of the boxed-in lives of her parents was tender and deeply moving. Though the show still requires a little more polish, it certainly deserves better audiences in future. 

Bar Bados, until 24 Aug
tw rating 3/5 | [Charlie Ellis]