Storytelling often reveals the most human parts of ourselves. My Grandpa Doesn’t Follow Me On Instagram: A Guide To Trans-generational Road-Tripping, created and told by Yoz Mensch, beautifully blends those familiar feelings of shared stories, with the artistry of one who knows how to capture human emotion and make it shine. Drawing on videos and Instagram posts from her journey to Scotland with her grandfather, Yoz struggles with the challenge of coming out to her grandfather while trying to find a connection between the pair without betraying herself.

My Grandpa Doesn’t Follow Me On Instagram is Yoz. The show simply oozes with her artistry and precision, offering an intimate connection as well as her story. Yoz brings an array of characters to storytelling, including a range of versions of herself: the humble storyteller, the anxious social performer, the human flagpole, and the version of herself that she hides from everyone, even the people she loves, vulnerably presented for our reflection. Each character is deliberately crafted and fantastically acted to bring these personalities to life. The story is built up masterfully through the intricacy of story elements, while allowing us to connect. Yoz might be presenting her own story and feelings, but I felt her moments within my own memories. Yoz understands human relationships on a deep and intricate level, her re-enactments throwing my mind and body back to my own intimate moments, in all their excitement, stress, heartbreak and joy.

It is impossible to talk about this show without mentioning the audio and visuals. If Yoz’s incredible performance wasn’t enough, she enhances and elevates her show through immersive sound design that immerses you in her tale, offering effective moments to breathe and reflect, and powerful moments that draw you into the intensity of her emotions. Behind her screen snippets of her time in Scotland, presented through her recordings and Instagram posts, helping to connect Yoz’s memories and feelings with those immediate moments in time, helping us to laugh at the hilarity of their trip, and positioning us in the car, the pub or the amphitheatre in the pouring rain with her. The show is not just Yoz’s experiences. It is an experience, and one I won’t soon forget.

Please see My Grandpa Doesn’t Follow Me On Instagram. Yoz will help you laugh, cry, and understand that the individual struggles we all go through are not only better told through art, but might not be as individual as you once thought. Yoz deserves our attention, and I will make sure to see everything they have to offer from here on out.

5 stars

Thu, 19 Feb – Sat, 07 Mar
The Breakout at The Mill
Rated M
Tickets here

By Henry