***

In this autobiographical show which ran for two nights only, Hazel O'Connor relates her life story and a career sabotaged by corruption, deceit, naivete and plain bad luck. The tales of such are interspersed with old and new songs, each one counter-pointing a pertinent stage in her life.

It's a small, intimate, warm show utterly bereft of the jerky pop/punk crossover nonsense of her early 1980s solo career. Then, as she tells us in a series of low-key, charming and gently honest vignettes, she was socialising with the likes of David Bowie and Chrissie Hynde, as well as being there at the start of the careers of George Michael and Duran Duran. Now, she is experiencing the joy that creative freedom brings, away from the monsters of the music industry.

Musically, it's trad-subtle (Cormac DeBarra on harp and Mario N'Gorma on percussion), with O'Connor's throaty vocals adding a nice touch of off-kilter sonics to proceedings. Theatrically, it's casual and rough'n'ready: no grandiloquent, show-stopping gestures, but rather a clearly emotive, some-holds-barred story of an erstwhile life in the fast lane.

***** - brilliant

**** - good

*** - more good than bad

** - more bad than good

* bad