Stand-up Marjolein to perform in New Zealand next year

A SHETLAND comic who performed at this year’s Edinburgh Fringe festival has landed slots at two similar events in New Zealand.

Marjolein Robertson will take to the stage at the New Zealand Fringe in Wellington and the Auckland Fringe festival early next year.

She will host five stand-up shows in Wellington between 13-18 February before performing in Auckland over 23-25 February.

Robertson has previously performed in Amsterdam and New York, while she also runs the local Shetland Comedy group and leads the improv ensemble The Imposters.

She has also become something of a viral star on Facebook after recording videos for the BBC Social project, with one of her clips viewed nearly half a million times.

Her latest show focuses on a number of themes such as family and political relations, failing to achieve success with the opposite sex and “observational comedy on the outside world from a small islander’s perspective”.

Robertson said she developed a bond with New Zealand after visiting the country earlier this year to play with Shetland fiddle collective Hjaltibonhoga as part of a Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo tour.

“New Zealand is genuinely the most beautiful country I have ever visited. To get the opportunity to return is amazing, and it’s even more amazing to get the opportunity to perform comedy at two of their fringes,” she said.

“I’m going to be performing my new show Marjolein Robertson: Relations which I will then be hoping to take to the Edinburgh Fringe in August.”