To Space

Science Gallery (Studio Space)

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"Where are we?" Niamh Shaw asks the audience before launching into a description of our place in the universe that starts at the Science Gallery and ends light years away. "That's where we are."

Before we know it, we're in a burgundy cinema in Carlow, in 1977, where an eight-year-old Niamh discovers Star Wars, and a dream is born. "I want to be an astronaut," she tells her brother.

To Space has much to recommend it, not least the stargazer's perspective on the world, a gentle humour, and more illuminating facts, figures and insights than you could shake a Hubble Space Telescope at.

Shaw’s blend of performance, presentation and nostalgia is engaging, let down only by a denouement that  feels a little contrived and at odds with the tone of the show, jolting it out of orbit.

Ends Sept 14