Abigail and Shaun Bengson in Ohio [Mihaela Bodlovic]

HUSBAND and wife team Abigail and Shaun Bengson combine personal storytelling with music to clever effect.

In Ohio, they explore Shaun’s degenerative hearing loss, inherited from his pastor father, and his crisis of faith. After turning his back on the church he found solace in music, revealing himself as an impressive singer-songwriter.

The show opens with Abigail informing us that they are both disabled performers. She encourages audience participation through clapping, humming, and playful interaction with the creative captioning. We learn how they met, and about the difficult birth of their son. Part of the show is inspired by their three-year-old’s question: “What happens when we die?”

Their songs span a wide emotional range – from a tribute to Shaun’s church choir director, who helped him overcome crippling shyness through music, to the loss of Abigail’s brother – and blend folk and gospel with shades of punk. Their harmonies are terrific. Abigial’s vibrato is stunning, and her ululations are hypnotic. There’s a deliberately ad-hoc feel to Caitlin Sullivan’s 75-minute production. The Bengsons offer fascinating insights into the mechanics of hearing loss and vividly convey Shaun’s auditory range and the sensation of tinnitus. The writing veers between the saccharine, heartfelt and quietly profound.

They had to contend with several issue on press night, from malfunctioning monitors to an audience member becoming unwell, but valiantly rose to the challenge.

Part gig, part theatre Ohio is unexpectedly uplifting.

Until October 25
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