Show rating: A heavenly 4 stars.

A fringe festival by its nature is home to weird little shows that are the passion projects of artists from diverse communities, which is how you find a Norse witch reviewing a gay Christian comedy show come testimonial. Melody Rachel has created an intensely personal comedy production that interrogates her own journey from a good Christian church going girl who evolves into a rebellious queer woman who then matures into a close relationship with Jesus. She is inspiring and insightful and the sort of comedian that infuses deep theological thought into her story telling.

Melody comes from a place of authentic belief and instead of feeling preachy or like a sermon, there is wisdom in what she shares of her own lived experience as lesbian and her understandings of her spirituality. There are some references to New Testament scriptures that may lose those without a familiarity with the Bible (I was able to follow along because of that time I joined a cult in my teens as an act of rebellion) but Melody is still able to express herself and her faith in a way other people can understand her message that Jesus doesn’t hate the gays.

This is a quietly subversive show that challenges the biblical ideas about sin and homosexuality. Melody redefines sin as anything that stops humans from flourishing. And Melody’s understanding of her relationship with God and Christ moved away from organised religion that claims to love the sinner and not the sin, to a place she where she wants to let her deity know and love her in total completeness, flaws and features all. Rachel has approached her own relationship with Jesus with great compassion and grace. I hope this inspires other queer people of faith to join her in that place of healthy self acceptance and able to experience this sort of divine love.