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Ohio

 
Alec Martin Review by Alec Martin 4 Published: 16 Aug 2025 Assembly Roxy Show Dates: 30 Jul 2025-24 Aug 2025

Ohio bills itself as an “ecstatic grief concert”, and the tagline fits. Indie-folk duo The Bengsons turn their performance space into a small, attentive congregation and deliver a gig-theatre ritual about love, faith, and the slow fear of losing sound when music has made you who you are.

The best numbers land like tightly plotted short stories.

Shaun Bengson grew up in a strict Lutheran community in Ohio; he’s inherited degenerative hearing loss. Abigail is his partner in life and harmony. Together they build a story in songs and plain speech that asks a child’s blunt question – what happens when we die? – and sits with the honest answer: we don’t know, but we can choose how to live.

The form is the point. Two performers, microphones, a guitar, keys and loops; slides that quietly annotate what we’re hearing; and captions and a sign language interpreter who are not add-ons but core to the drama. At the show’s centre, they manipulate microphones and captions so consonants vanish and frequencies drop out. You don’t just hear about hearing loss – you experience it. It’s a simple device, and one that’s devastatingly effective, reframing how we receive the show. Accessibility here isn’t a compliance line; it’s a propulsive force.

Musically, the set is lean and strong. Harmonies blossom without tipping into sentimentality; the best numbers land like tightly plotted short stories – clear voice, clean image, no fuss. Caitlin Sullivan’s direction keeps the concert energy focused; anecdotes swell to anthems and settle again without false climaxes. I admired the way the show treats faith: it interrogates certainty but doesn’t mock belief, and it holds space for a father who stays in the church even as a son walks away. And there’s a weird-and-wonderful highlight when Abigail, with her clearly exceptional singing talent, leads a hymn that all but deifies worms – saints of the soil – turning a mordant idea into a tender nod to decay, renewal and acceptance.

There are soft spots. The braid of themes – religion on one strand, hearing on the other – can loosen in the middle, and a couple of stories feel baggy. If you’re hunting for theatrical spectacle, this is deliberately small-scale; its power is closeness and craft.

By the end, Ohio earns its quiet catharsis. It’s a clear-eyed, skilfully made hour where accessibility becomes art – and art becomes a way to live with the unknowable.

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The Blurb:

When Shaun turned his back on the church, he found a new home in music. Confronted now with acute degenerative hearing loss, he’s making the choice to live joyfully in the face of life's many unanswerable questions. An exhilarating and celebratory true story about losing faith and finding hope in the darkest of places. The Olivier Award-winning producers of Fleabag and Baby Reindeer bring you this intimate and rousing new musical experience featuring creative captions. From Obie-winning indie-folk duo The Bengsons. 'Spills over with heart and humour’ – New York Theatre Guide on The Keep Going Songs.