one4review | On 25, Aug 2021

This show has a very cold open, but it takes Michelle Christine a very short time to turn a bemused audience into a delighted one. With no fanfare, she assumes her position on the bench-seat masquerading as a stage, explains how the show will proceed, and then proceeds, almost without the gap required by the ‘and then’.

There’s another show which tells chapter one of this story, but it’s not a prerequisite for seeing this show – though if it’s a good as this one, it’ll be worth seeing. Michelle Christine is a person who makes things happen, and she’s done so, as she recounts, just by making a phone call. As a result, she’s managed to do all sorts of things – lots of them involving rather fancy motorbikes – and have all sorts of interesting experiences, the retelling of which form the throughline of this show.

The content of the story is so wild and the telling of it so engaging that punchlines are not required to keep the energy up and the show rolling; the ones that made the cut are very high quality, and they make the show something more, rather than being used to cover for deficiencies elsewhere. There’s also something delightful about the well-spoken gentle Canadian lady being bluntly honest (but not gratuitously graphic) about sex and associated topics.

A lovely Fringey pick-me-up – let’s hope Ms Christine keeps phoning people, so we can hear more of her tales soon.

Reviewed by Laura

Champions of the Festival @ The Waverley Bar
15:30 (until 30th)