Shetland comedian Marjolein Robertson has never shied away from controversial topics in her stand-up shows.
She is known for her unique comedy and storytelling — often weaving in Shetland folk tales as a nod to her home.
And now Marjolein has just kicked off her second tour, O, and is preparing to take it to the north and north-east next month.
But this tour is yet another example of her addressing topics that may leave some members of the audience squirming in their seats.
Speaking to The P&J ahead of her show in Aberdeen, Marjolein revealed there have already been 18 walkouts and nine fainters.
And that’s because she talks about the time her period almost killed her…
Read on to find out:
- Marjolein’s near-death experience when she was just 16, and how she hopes she can raise awareness now
- How Shetland is an “inherently very funny place” that has inspired her time and time again
- And why losing everything led Marjolein to turn to stand-up comedy
‘If you take her home now, she won’t last through the night’
When Marjolein was just 16, she had a period that wasn’t quite right.
She was left embarrassed by how heavy it had become, and being so young, she didn’t know that it wasn’t normal.
It wasn’t until the night before her Higher English exam that she had been left so exhausted by the heavy bleeding that her mum realised something was wrong. She looked under her daughter’s eyelid and saw it was just white.
Even though they had an appointment to see the doctor after her exam was finished, her mum decided it was best to go to A&E that night to see if there was anything that could slow down the bleeding.
It was 10pm and by that point, Marjolein was finding it painful just to breathe.
The doctors took her blood, which came back very quickly, and they decided to keep her overnight.
Not realising just how unwell Marjolein had become, her mum wanted to take her home so she could sit the exam the next day.
But the doctor warned: “If you take her home now, she won’t last through the night.”
Marjolein stayed overnight and was given two blood transfusions.
“If my mam hadn’t at the last minute been like ‘I don’t feel right about letting you sleep, let’s just go get you checked out’ I wouldn’t have survived,” she said. “I mean I joke about it and talk quite jovially about it now because I’m fine.
“But from my mam and dad’s perspective, that’s unbearable to think about.
“If she had just left me to sleep, I wouldn’t have woken up.”
Marjolein eventually gets a diagnosis
At first, the doctors couldn’t figure out why Marjolein had become so gravely unwell.
After meetings with the gynaecologist she was diagnosed with adenomyosis — a condition where the lining of the womb starts growing into the muscle in the wall of the womb.
“It’s kind of like endometriosis,” she explained, before interlocking her fingers together to demonstrate. “Sometimes the lining overzealously stitches through the wall of the uterus, and the muscles tear open to shed the lining.
“But then you can hemorrhage from the inside. It’s one of those things that can affect anyone having a period at any time. It’s incredibly painful, and you bleed a lot because it’s not just the lining that you shed.
“You’ve got internal tears, and you’re actually bleeding out.”
Comedian shares her experiences to raise awareness
Without giving too much of the show away, Marjolein says she “doesn’t hold back” when talking about her experience, in the hope it will help others.
“There’s two strands of the show. One is people’s menstrual health, and the lack of knowledge about it,” the comedian said. “I also think there are times women aren’t being listened to.”
But she stressed the show isn’t an attack on the NHS.
“I think we’re very lucky to have them,” she added. “It’s just the fact they’re underfunded.
“And that underfunding means they don’t have the staff, or the training or the research. I love the NHS, and I don’t blame it for this.
“But as a society, I think we should be so much farther in our knowledge with menstrual health.”
This isn’t the first time Marjolein has shared her own harrowing experiences to raise awareness.
She toured with her first show Marj last year, which explored gaslighting and abusive relationships. The comedian even worked with a therapist to ensure the show could have a “positive outcome” for anything affected by the topic, with it being informative and with the right signposting.
And after the show ended, audience members would come up to her to share their experiences, which she described as “heartbreaking”.
“It made me feel like I’d done the right thing by doing that topic,” she said with conviction.
Shetland is ‘inherently a very funny place’
Marjolein partly attributes her sense of humour to growing up in Shetland, and often weaves local folktales into her stand-up.
She said the island is “inherently a very funny place” and that folk have a good sense of humour.
Living in a small community meant everyone would have to make their own fun and there were always events on.
But Marjolein was also inspired by an unlikely source — the annual Up Helly Aa festival.
“People are most familiar with the Vikings and the procession and the burning of the galley,” she explained.
“But a huge element of Up Helly Aa is all the other people in the procession dressed not as Vikings, but in funny costumes because they spend the night going from venue to venue performing sketches and acts and skits.”
She would also go to see any comedian who visited the islands when she had the opportunity.
While Marjolein always loved watching stand-up, it was never something she thought she would end up doing herself…
Marjolein had ‘everything taken’ from her
After finishing university Marjolein moved to Amsterdam, where she lost everything and turned to comedy for comfort.
She worked in a restaurant, lived with her partner at the time, and said it was just “one unfortunate thing after another”.
Her boss was underpaying the staff, and when Marjolein asked for everyone to get minimum wage she was fired. Then their landlord kicked them out because he was illegally subletting his apartment.
“I mean, the clue should have been that we were sleeping in his bedroom while he slept on the couch,” she laughed before adding, “naive, naive Shetlanders.”
They moved into a house share with jazz musicians, which was then robbed, and she lost everything — her fiddle, laptop, iPod and Kindle were all taken.
At the time, Marjolein had been going to improv workshops because she couldn’t afford the full course. But once the organisers heard about the robbery, they invited her to go along.
“Everything had been taken from me,” she sighed. “I literally had nothing but time, so I just started writing stand-up.
“For years I was so bitter about that robbery because I lost things I cared about like my fiddle and gifts from family members.
“But I don’t know if I’d be where I am if I hadn’t lost everything, and had to turn my hand to something that I could do with just a pen and paper.”
Comedian just wants to ‘make Shetland proud’
She eventually moved back to Shetland to pursue her comedy career and saved up all her wages and holidays to perform at the free Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
It wasn’t until 2019 that Marjolein took the plunge and moved down to London to go to new material nights and five-minute spots. Since then the multi-award-winning comedian and storyteller has become one of the most exciting names on the circuit.
Shetland is the last stop of her latest tour in June. While Marjolein “knaps” on the mainland (speaking to be understood), she is already looking forward to being able to talk in her dialect when she goes home — and throw in some “in-jokes”.
She finished: “I love going home and just seeing family and friends. But because Shetland is so small, and everybody kens each other anyway, it’s just nice.
“And I want to make Shetland proud. I mean, they might not find me funny, but I still want to try and do right by Shetland.”
Marjolein Robertson: O
Marjolein’s newest tour O is coming to the north and north-east throughout March.
You can also watch Marj in full online here.
Conversation