Abigoliah Schamaun @ Underbelly Cowgate

Musicals can be a divisive topic: people often love them or hate them, so to centre a large part of a show around your love of musical theatre can be a risky move.

This is what Abigoliah Schamaun does in Namaste Bitches. Despite not being the main topic, Schamaun spends much of the first half of the show talking about her love of musicals, before moving on to discuss her more recent endeavours in yoga and fitness. There are some funny anecdotes in among the show, like the time during the Fringe last year that Schamaun found herself in the Meadows playing ultimate frisbee with a group of mormons at 5am, but an erratic, overexcitable storytelling style undercuts this.

More than a few times Schamaun puts on an odd geeky voice when making jokes for reasons unknown, which doesn’t contribute anything to the story. Perhaps it was nervousness, perhaps it’s part of Schamaun’s stage persona, but regardless, it feels awkward and unnecessary. There are a few walkouts halfway through the show, and unfortunately, today, it never quite gets beyond the mildly amusing.