Dara Ó Briain, Soho Theatre Walthamstow review - master storyteller spins a family yarn

Dara Ó Briain’s  has described his previous show So… Where Were We? – in which he describes his search for his birth mother who gave him up for adoption when he was a baby – as his Philomena, while his latest, Re: Creation, is his version of Elf, in which a grown man travels across the world to find his birth father.

It’s a neat joke, but also underlines a difference between the two shows which, while companion pieces, are very different tonally. Where the first had moments of raw emotion, Re: Creation – while also tugging at the heartstrings – feels as if it’s played much more for laughs.

As ever, Ó Briain starts the show by doing fantastic crowd work at Soho Theatre Walthamstow, a 1930s gem of a former cinema now given a glorious makeover – which pleases him no end, as he is a former trustee of the Theatres Trust.

As he talks to the front row, the Irish comic’s lightning-fast mind spins surreal stories from what they offer up in the way of their jobs, their postcodes and – on the night I saw the show -– their experiences of having their cars stolen. 

In this section, too, he sets up a chef’s kiss of a plant that receives a callback late in the evening. If ever you think he is going off piste with a line or an anecdote, there’s a reason – it’s to set up a glorious gag later.

There are segues into being the father of teenage children, doing a speed awareness course and recollections of his schooldays, as well the age divide on grooming pubic hair.

Ó Briain, the tease,  keeps us waiting for the meat and potatoes of this hugely entertaining show when he recounts how he came to meet his birth father. 

Unlike the search for his birth mother, this one came with fewer obstacles, but with the advantage – for us, at least – of having some unexpected, even knockabout, moments of comedy along the way. It also contains the biggest rug pull of any show I have ever seen, which will make you gasp.

It takes a while to get to the show’s heart, but that’s to cavil as there are so many big laughs along the way in a marvellously funny show. And Ó Briain, a master storyteller, has something quite profound to say about the families we’re born into, the ones we create, and the ones we fall among.

• Touring until March 2026
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