Marjolein Robertson almost died at the age of 16 when she endured an internal haemorrhage that she thought was a heavy period. She had to get two blood transfusions, and was in hospital for three days. If he mother hadn’t taken her in, she would have bled out and died at home during the night.
Now she’s telling her story through her Edinburgh Fringe show, Marjolein Robertson: O – but men can’t seem to be able to stomach it. ‘We’ve had three men faint at shows and another nine people leave,’ she tells Metro.co.
uk . Of the nine early risers, seven of these were men. ‘ It’s usually when I’m talking in the latter half of the show,’ she explains.
‘The thing that really triggers people is talking about my injections, talking about the implant, talking about my condition adenomyosis and how it rips open the muscles and I haemorrhage from the inside of my body. ‘Two men have had to run out on the word hysterectomy, which I think is very funny.’ Adenomyosis is a gynecological condition that causes the lining of the uterus to grow into the muscular wall of the uterus, and it’s her description of the lining ripping through this wall that is causing men to keel over.
Marjolein actually congratulated me and fellow audience members last week for managing to sit through the whole show without passing out or leaving, after a week-long string of chaotic shows. ‘But as I was packing up my show at the end my tech came up to me and was like, “Well Marjolein you wouldn’t have seen it because your back was turned around and you were busy pumping blood but a woman got up in the first minute of the show and went, “Nope,” and just walked out.’ Yes, she was pumping blood.
The start of Marjolein’s show sees the comic squirting blood out of a mannequin’s headless neck. But it’s not just grim for grim’s sake – the amount of blood the audience sees in the first five minutes of the show was the exact amount Marjolein lost the night she almost died. It seemed to go on forever.
After introducing more fans to the room – the air-blasting type, not the clapping ones – the underground venue seems to be more comfortable now, Marjolein says, and she is experiencing less fainting men. But she’s also been forced to sanitise the show. ‘I’ve had to tone down talking about the medical practices for people’s comfort because I’d rather they see the whole show,’ she says.
‘But it’s interesting because the show is meant to be about how much I suffer and all the blood loss. ‘Even then, I’m toning down my own experience for the comfort of the audience. ‘But it’s trying to find that balance of, “Cool I’ll make it a bit less visceral for you, but I also need you to know what’s going on and why it isn’t right that so many people are struggling with this.
” ‘There are so many young teenagers too, who when they go to the doctor about adenomyosis get told, “You don’t get that until your 30s and 40s,” whereas we’re seeing it happen time and time again. ‘An audience member came up to me yesterday after the show and said, “I just want you to know that I had the same experience as you – but I was 11.”’ Marjolein almost died because of the silence surrounding periods.
She thought the level of discomfort and bleeding might just be part of the parcel of womanhood. It took her years to get a diagnosis, and even armed with one now, she’s no closer to a cure. Doctors simply don’t know what to do with her.
This is not the first fainting scenario at this Edinburgh Fringe, as Metro.co.uk was at Spitting Image star Matt Forde’s show last Wednesday when two audience members fainted and the show was called off.
It was a hot day, and he wasn’t talking about anything graphic. Ed Patrick, star of Have I Got News for You, told Metro.co.
uk of how he was performing his Catch Your Breath solo hour when one of his audience members fainted. He had been talking about injecting donkeys – a story about how the relaxant curare was discovered – when the man collapsed due to his fear of injections. The audience member sent a message afterwards to apologise for the disruption.
More Trending Netflix fans left 'sobbing' after 'silly little comedy' turns out to be hidden gem A rare condition turned my baby girl into 'Wolverine' Miriam Margolyes' 'unexpected' comment removed after live radio appearance Wildest Edinburgh Fringe show ever sees comedian crowd surf totally naked Michael Kunze also had to pause a Crime Scene Investigation improv gig after an audience member got violently ill, and projectile vomited all over the rest of the crowd, many of whom were in the what he calls the ‘splash zone’ – and left as a result. In a Black Mirror moment, a crime scene-esque tape was erected around the vomit. It did resume after 10 minutes or so, but many had to leave for the smell.
Perhaps the heat had something to do with this weird Edinburgh Fringe trend of 2024. But before anyone was collapsing during Scotland’s hottest, sunny days last week, Marjolein was causing chaos among men in her hour of heavy period chat. If anything, that shows how important it is she soldiers on.
Marjolein is performing Marjolein Robertson: O at the Edinburgh Fringe festival until August 25 every day at 17.40. Tickets here .
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