1 Woman, a High-Flyer and a Flat Bottom: Samantha Baines

Last year Samantha Baines enjoyed a successful Fringe debut with 1 Woman, a Dwarf Planet and 2 Cox, a show chiefly about pursuing a “sexually charged coffee” with Dr Brian. We’ll probably have to get used to those cumbersome titles as this follow-up is selling well too, she delights in telling us, for no discernible reason.

Perhaps a few withering reviews of last year’s effort stung, as the content is sturdier this year. Whatever you make of Baines’ folksy, come-and-get-me-Radio-4 standup style—she actively asks if any producers are in at one point—you will almost certainly learn something during this well put-together hour.

That title is a bit odd actually, as this show is about three great women: innovators who are lost to modern history, she suggests, by putting big "lost" stickers over their photographs. Admittedly one of them is Sally Ride, the legendary US physicist and astronaut who even got a passing mention in a bad Billy Joel song, but no matter, these are stories well worth retelling.

Baines intersperses the late, great women sections with affectionate memories of her recently departed father, which may sound a little awkward, but the differing strands are woven together impressively. That weaving includes readings from her poetry book, which is on show throughout and—the ad was always coming—on sale afterwards. But nobody seems to mind.

This is a show designed for a no alarms, no-surprises audience, and it works. A big spoonful of science, a dash of smut, plus poignancy, puns and some larky audience interaction: Baines has concocted a winning formula.