MIND HOW YOU GO (2018)

By Robert Jarman

17-26 May 2018
Theatre Royal Backspace

To celebrate his 60th birthday, Robert Jarman, Artistic Director of Blue Cow Theatre, created a new show. A tribute to his parents and a celebration of the theatre to which he has devoted his life. 

Performer Robert Jarman
Pianist Aaron Powell
Surprise special guest Nicole Farrow

Director Annette Downs
Designer William Dowd
Lighting Designer Tim Munro
Stage Manager Adam ‘Gus’ Powers
Front of House Christine Bailey
Graphic Designer Nathaniel Hiller
Promotions Adrian Smith 

WHAT PEOPLE SAID ABOUT “MIND HOW YOU GO” 

“What a wonderful piece of theatre. A great script, dense but never obscure, light but thought-provoking (I'm still musing over it), full of acute social commentary but never heavy, intensely personal but, or therefore, universal and accessible. Robert performs with impressive relaxed energy for 75 minutes, now sharing an intimate moment, now delivering tongue-twisting staccato dialogue with admirable precision and clarity, now, not bursting, but smoothly gliding into song and shuffling a couple of dance steps and generally proving that 60 is the new prime of life. Aaron Powell's ever present accompaniment is subtle and integral, set (William Dowd) and lighting (Tim Munro) are great and the whole thing moves so smoothly and inevitably that you forget that someone must have directed it: Annette Downs! And as a bonus the 'surprise special guest’ is terrific.” – Michael Edgar 

“An at times wicked, lithe, funny and elegiac performance. Perfectly pitched, nuanced and little brash. We were moved, we laughed - a bit like a musical of the very best kind.” – Philip Holliday

“It's a rare experience indeed when a writer or performer (in this case, one and the same person) lets down the barriers and truly shows you themselves. It's an even rarer experience when they have the skill to do that without talking about themselves or relying on literal scenes from their life. Robert Jarman opened last night in his vastly entertaining show, Mind How You Go, that tells so much and yet never instructs or explains. It is a deceptively casual entertainment that unfolds with much laughter, some tears and a deft exploration of an era that existed in the decade he was born. At every step, the performer's self is communicated through an almost painful vulnerability that is quite unlike anything I've ever seen from this outrageously talented actor.” – Rod Anderson