Three shows with menstrual themes at the Edinburgh Festival 2024…

Bella Humphries: Square Peg | Just the Tonic at The Mash House | 1-25 Aug
As I begin a whole tip section devoted to female anatomy and its processes, I am kinda visualising people responding to it, and not necessarily in a positive way. Anyway, I’m here to tell those people, if they are reading, that it’s not icky and these are necessary conversations. First pick is Bella Humphries, whose comedy set touches on a number of themes, but one is her experience of Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder. Info and tickets here.

OommoO – I Am A Walking Universe | Summerhall | 2-26 Aug (pictured)
In a show that centres on AfroFuturism through an East African lens of a first generation immigrant, Lula Mebrahtu presents a follow up to 2023 piece ‘OommoO’. In it, as part of an assessment of racial disparities, she looks at how black women are treated in medical context: uterine fibroids, the cause of difficult menstrual issues, was attributed to a “black women curse”, when in fact they can affect all women; then there’s the grim fact that black women are much more likely to die in childbirth. Info and tickets here.

Marjolein Robertson: O | Monkey Barrel Comedy | 1-25 Aug
When I saw that she would be back at the Fringe, I was interested in what Shetland-born comedian Marjolein Robertson would have to say this year, because we were so very impressed with her 2023 show. And, as it turns out, she’ll be exploring her own body and folk tales, raising the subject of menstrual matters and the wider issue of how women’s health is often neglected and misunderstood. And despite that, it will be very funny. Info and tickets here.