Paul McDermott

Under a thin spotlight, and in front of back-lit artwork from the exhibition that sparked this show, Paul McDermott presents The Dark Garden, his darkest and most personal performance to date. Structured around the five stages of grief (anger, denial, bargaining, cross-dressing and acceptance, in this particular version), the show centres on a collection of songs inspired by the death of a close friend, interspersed with stories and comedy to lighten the mood.

McDermott's previous Paul Sings tour was entertaining, but the songs were beginning to veer dangerously close to lounge music and there was a sense that he was skating by on his charisma and voice. Tonight, with the band stripped back to guitar and piano, the compositions are closer to jazz and his voice, never weak, is stronger than before, particularly as the night goes on. The songs are thematically bleak, inspired by school shootings, tsunamis and loss, and there's a rawness to the singing that suggests a grief still fresh, but the lyrics tend to end up pointing to hope – to the beauty and love in the world rather than the despair. Not every song works, but Her Agoraphobic Hands and Needle & Thread are particular stand-outs and this is easily the strongest collection of music that he has performed.

The stories between the songs are sometimes interesting, sometimes enlightening and occasionally suggest the performance is more layered, or perhaps less honest, than it initially appears. Many of them stretch on too long though, and McDermott seems almost too aware of his own public persona. Half-serious jokes about his ego, and vulgar anecdotes about Annie Sprinkle (a former porn star, now sex educator) and, separately, a vaudeville goose, are strained and stand in stark contrast to the brief insights into the songs and the tragedy that spawned them.

This leads to a tonal disconnect in the material tonight. The songs are largely good, the comedy a mixed bag, but the links between the two are awkward at best. McDermott is a captivating performer and quite capable of making an audience laugh, but it would be interesting to see this show presented straight, a more honest and reflective construction of the same base material. It seems, judging from tonight, that it would be within McDermott's range, but for now both audience and performer seem content to engage at a safe distance.