EDINBURGH 2017: BWW Q&A- Rachelle Elie

Tell us a bit about Sh*t I'm In Love With You Again.

It's about love - finding it, smashing it up and then doing a rescue job when you realise what you've that actually you do still love your partner, even the things you hate about him. It's all from my own life, starting as a clean living young Christian who suddenly realised that she'd missed out on dating the hottest guy on campus because she was strictly no sex. As well as sketches and stories there are songs, ditties like I'm Breaking Up With Jesus - which tell you the direction I took after that. All in all it's a comic romp through life's adventures, disasters and embarrassing errors (lots of those) that I think will ring true for most people.

Why bring it to Edinburgh?

I started touring the Canadian Fringe circuit when my first son was a toddler in 2003. I got hooked on the Fringe and have since toured five one woman shows across the country. Now that my boys are independent, irritating teenagers it feels like it's time to leave them for a month and hit the largest arts festival in the world. My poor husband! It's also Canada's 150th anniversary and The Canadian High Commission in London is putting out a separate programme about Canadian artists so it's a great year to be a Canadian artist in Edinburgh.

How has audience response been so far?

Very positive. Especially at this time people need and want to laugh. As a comedian my favourite part of my work is making people laugh and I believe this show does that. I am also a trained clown. Clowns go too far, push boundaries and talk about things people are usually hesitant to discuss. Audiences react very positively as they want to laugh, they want to change their minds about things and SIILWYA does that. Near the end of the show, when we get more into the crisis of my relationship audiences get to go for the ride. I try to always come back to the light of it which is fun because things get crazy and then we laugh about how ugly things got. I had a friend who went through a nasty divorce and at the end of the show he was teary and said he wished he saw the show before they broke up. Another elderly overweight gentlemen said he wished he had "fucked first" in his first marriage. Maybe it would of saved it!

I tell the truth about love and relationships and the shows message is that even if a relationship appears to be shit it may be fixable. Audiences react with laughter throughout the show mostly because the content of the show is relatable to most people and when conflict part of the show comes up people also relate to it differently depending on their life experience and choices. Last year we did the show at the Ottawa and Montreal Fringe festival and we received rave reviews and were nominated for The Just For Laughs Comedy Award and the Montreal Clown Festival Award.

Who would you recommend comes to see SIILWYA?

If you are 20, 50 or 80 you'll relate to the show. It's about the ups and downs of love and relationships so most people other than little kids will connect to the themes. I poke fun at everything and every age group will come out of it with something slightly different. I break up with Jesus, sleep with someone because they had "blue balls" and call my husband an "asshole" in therapy. Seniors have been through it already, 40 year olds might be smack in the middle of and young adults laugh seeing their future.

Are there any other shows you're hoping to catch at the festival?

So many great ones to see! Tommy Tiernan & Tape Face for sure. Also will be getting out to support Canadians like: Christel Bartelse in All Kidding Aside, Dylan Gott, Bobby Mair in Loudly Insecure, John Hastings and friends from the Canadian circuit: Otto and Astrid in EUROSMASH.

Timings and tickets for Sh*t I'm In Love With You Again are available on the edfringe website.

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