Lady Carol Betwixt and Between

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You'd be forgiven for thinking that Lady Carol's Betwixt and Between is a one woman show. And really, it is. But you can't help but feel there's something of a split personality about tonight's performer. One the one hand, we've Lady Carol—the sultry, caramel-voiced cabaret singer. On the other, we've the Lady Carol who offers anecdotal tales from her life with a chirpy, kindergarten teacher-like bouyancy.

That disparity within the Dubliner persists throughout the show. The songs—varied cover versions sung in a deep, poweful and unique alto voice—are a large part of the engrossing mystery surrounding Lady Carol as a musical performer. That affecting voice magnifies the sombre lilt of Bruce Springsteen's ‘Dancing in the Dark,’ and the potency of English folk song ‘Sam Hall,’ for instance. A shame then, that she should only be accompanied by her own rudimentary ukelele and mandolin playing. It feels as if the enigmatic performer has let her bubbly, over-zealous alter-ego play along with her, and something doesn't quite add up. It's half Tom Waits, half Sesame Street.

Those anecdotes, meanwhile, range from the pedestrian (becoming an aunt; travelling the world) to the bizarre (ruminations upon the idea that crescent moons resemble toenail clippings), and despite her happy-go-lucky demeanour, there's a wonderfully peculiar, warped sense of humour to them all. With each tale providing a convenient thematic segue into the proceeding song, the show has a forward momentum that—despite the best attempts of a persistently faulty microphone lead—is hardly disrupted throughout the performance.