Dick Johns presents ‘Let’s Talk about Death Baby’ in the Seligman Theatre at Chapter Arts Centre. The show is presented in a cabaret style with audience sat around tables to be brought in to Dick’s story of football, bandannas and space hoppers.

The piece is honest and raw, a story very personal to the performer and writer Dick Johns. It follows the parts of his childhood/life relating to his father as the story is about the passing of his father. It is presented in fragments of Dick’s life, all these fragments relating to life and death. Stories about personal belongings and their value after you are gone.

The story was a little bit of magic because Dick performed with such truth that the audience were with him every step of the way, feeling like they were in the car on the way to West Wales or having a hidden cigarette out of the bathroom window. There were also lovely moments where we got brought in to his story where we put on football stickers or bandannas, and shared laughs about that.

My favourite part of the performance was when we got to speak to Dick through the generations to get a real sense of the performer. This show had brilliant heart, laughs and some tears. But overall it was an incredibly enjoyable and comforting story, about a topic people avoid talking about.

I thoroughly enjoyed this show and highly recommend it.

This production can be seen at Chapter Arts Centre until Thursday the 27th of September.

Hannah Lad