It’s rare to find a piece of theatre that blends entertainment, emotion and education as effectively as this solo show from Beth Paterson. Based on her grandmother’s life, her mother’s stories and her own memories, it tenderly explores the generational trauma inflicted on her Jewish family by the Holocaust. She does this through the lens of her relationship with her grandmother, who survived Auschwitz and close contact with the utter evils of Josef Mengele.

How, asks Paterson, do you reconcile that your grandmother made it through all that with the fact that she was also a bitch? The answer lies in a knitted together tapestry of memory, research and an exploration of the Judaism that she’s ignored until now (‘I’m Jewish’ she explains.) Blending recordings of her mother, imagined vignettes from her grandmother’s life and facts that still have the power to shock and overwhelm more than 80 years later, in less skilled hands this could all feel like a history lesson (albeit an important one). But Paterson was born to tell it. She lights up the stage, sings like an angel, and her unflinching honesty about her emotions, history and story weaves through the theatre like a spring breeze, reminding us that to simply survive is to hope.

Clearly, this play is an important one. But, without trivialising its message, it’s also an enjoyable theatrical experience. Paterson’s open heart and sheer skill allows us to travel a little of her journey alongside her, without being overwhelmed; we smile even as we cry. Her grandmother would be so proud.