Written and performed by Michele Moran, and part of the Show in a Bag initiative, Sequin Dreams explores a number of stories based around the 1960s, taking us from the lanes of Meath, to The Gateways Club in London, and Club Tropicana in Beirut.

Jackie is our guide, and we follow her journey as an innocent 12 year old losing her mother, to life as a showgirl, with her dreams of "beads and brocade" quickly fading. Moran ably inhabits the role of Jackie, and several other characters that populate each community she talks of. Sometimes she is "Clubfoot" Tina, or her estranged drag-queen-Uncle George, then switches to the squeaky-sounding, damaged "Vinegars", or her menacing "mountain" of a father, while always returning to the touchstone of Jackie, singing songs that act as half-lit remembrances.

The interweaving stories are so rich that an hour is possibly not enough - there is  potential in Moran's characters, and considering The Gateways club was a real place - a lesbian club situated on the King's Road in London, operating under the shadow of the Gross Indecency Act, there is more to be said, but as a portrait of "raw living" (as Jackie says), it is a satisfying experience.
 

Star rating: ★★★