Rendezvous in Bratislava

Miriam and her granddad are making a cabaret together. They’re the perfect double act: He’s got the stories, she loves telling them, and they both have a flair for the theatrical. The only problem is - they’ve never met. And he’s been dead for 39 years.

Rendezvous in Bratislava combines original new music, a five-piece British Slovak band, comedy, cabaret and original 1940s photographs and recordings to share the life story of writer Miriam Sherwood's grandfather, Jan 'Laco' Kalina - a dramaturg, satirist, collector of jokes and writer of cabarets.

Digging through artefacts and stories from Laco’s remarkable life, Miriam pursues her granddad’s voice through his own jokes, skits and songs, conjuring up an archival cabaret that reverberates with laughter from a very different place and time.

With original music and a live band, Rendezvous in Bratislava traces family connections across national, historical and political borders, and celebrates the power of laughter in troubled times.

Both performances of Rendezvous in Bratislava will be relaxed.