Review by Travis Facette
60 min | Comedy, Musical, Storytelling, Solo | Mature
Autobiography comes with an implicit claim: “My life makes a good story.” Or maybe it’s “I can make my life into a good story.” Either way, that’s a pretty bold claim, and it’s hard to walk the line between being banal and being narcissistic. Rachelle Elie’s life, as told in Sh!t I’m in Love with You Again, is definitely an interesting one, but what makes the performance shine isn’t the content of her experiences so much as the energy and care with which she animates the people who inhabit that life, and the earnest, nuanced way she shares her experiences with us. Anyone can talk about their love life, but it takes a real storyteller to make us lean in and take interest.
This is an intimate performance, as one might expect from a show about sex, love, marriage and family, and it suits the intimate venue. As Elie narrates the arc of her romantic life from youthful idealism to the challenges of marriage, she slips easily into gentle caricatures of the people in her life—her parents, her therapist, her lovers, various snotty children. The story is punctuated by musical interludes, a mixture of original songs and snatches of pop music that never overstay their welcome, in which she’s accompanied by Luke Jackson’s acoustic guitar and backup vocals. What really establishes that intimacy, though, is the way she communicates her internal world as she navigates her early sexual experiences and her lasting relationships—earnestly, vividly, shamelessly. Sh!t I’m in Love with You Again is a funny show, but you’re not just laughing at a clever line in a musical number; you’re laughing because she’s gleefully articulating the kind of thoughts we’ve all had in our relationships, the kind of thoughts we’re usually reluctant to express.
It’s clear that Elie is a pro, as well. When she gets that rueful laughter or those sympathetic nods, she makes eye contact and responds organically. The performance, even on the first night, was smooth, confident and practiced. Elie is a Fringe veteran (and winner of the Ottawa Fringe Festival Outstanding Comedy Award for her previous show, JOE: The Perfect Man) and it shows. It’s a dynamic performance, moving easily between melancholy and exuberant, conspiratorial and defiant, precious and lewd, and it makes for a show that’s well worth seeing.
Sh!t I’m in Love with You Again is playing at BYOV A – The Courtroom (2 Daly Avenue, Elevator A) on Saturday, June 20 at 2:00 and 8:30 p.m.; Wednesday, June 24 at 9:30 p.m.; Friday, June 25 at 6:30 p.m.; Saturday, June 27 at 2:30 and 10:00 p.m.; and Sunday, June 28 at 5:30 p.m. Tickets are $12.
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