THISISPOPBABY's productions are known for being spectacular, mind blowing bendy feats with lashings of heart, and WAKE is no different.

With words provided by Carys Coburn Gray, WAKE is a nebulous, fun and utterly surreal take on the Irish funeral tradition- designed to make audience members cry, laugh - and perhaps most importantly, dance.

The narrative structure is provided in through a spoken word format performed by Felicia Olusanya acting as high priestess. Olusanya opens with an astonishing and sweeping monologue, promising that audience members will leave the National Stadium fundamentally changed: you'll ditch your long term partner, decide to bring life into the world, and heal age old wounds by the time WAKE's 90 minutes are done with you.

While I am still in a monogamous relationship, not pregnant to the best of my knowledge and still carry more or less the same psychological scars before watching the show; it is undoubtedly some of the most compelling piece of performance you will see this year.

WAKE by Ruth Medjber

Cue Kerry GAA players stripping to their chiseled torsos, an English cousin in the form of to DJ Duncan Disorderly and hair raising trad.

Composed and arranged by company artist Alma Kelliher, WAKE combines electronic dance music with trad in an intoxicating blend that orientates around the kingpin that is the 'drop'.

The music acts as the backbone for the inclusion of jaw dropping circus feats which are synonymous with THISISPOPBABY.

Admittedly, I must have been going to the wrong funerals up until this point as there has sadly been limited aerial arts or pole dancing.

However one element that reminded viewers greatly of the Irish waking tradition was the circular stage shape, which saw audience members leaning in around the circle, as you would find in any house where stories are shared to wake a loved one.

Maybe that's the brilliant fulcrum on which the show operates, in much the same vein as we gather to share in pain, tears and humour when someone has passed- so does WAKE.

Your cousin might lend us a tune, or my da would tell a funny story or our aunt could read a poem, in this spirit WAKE pulls on a multitude of talent to create a show that purges worry and trouble, if not indefinitely at least for 90 magical minutes.

An eclectic mish-mash of song, burlesque, dance (Irish, modern, tap you name it), high octane acrobatics and a generous douse of spirit is what makes up the blockbuster show.

It would be impossible to spoil WAKE before you go see it- as it lies not quite in the realm of performance, theatre or show- it is  simply a gathering.

• WAKE debuted at the Dublin Fringe Festival in September 2022 before returning for a run in the National Stadium March 6-23 2024. The production is currently preparing to tour internationally.