Bethany Black: (Extra)Ordinary

Plenty of comics say they've had a roller-coaster number of years but roller derby casualty Bethany Black has known more bumps than most. Beset by bereavement, illness, injury, poverty and heartache, at her lowest ebb she suddenly made history as the first transgender actor to plays a trans character on British television, in Russell T Davies' Cucumber and Banana, before securing her fangirl fantasy of appearing in Doctor Who. Once ditched, practically at the altar, she's found love again with someone who just seems to click with her. And having had her life return to the relatively stable keel of a jobbing comic, she's back at the Fringe for the first time in seven years.

Her singular life experience remains a rich fund of anecdotes and in recent years, she's learned a more measured, wry means of relating them, with an especially arch and sagacious perspective on her status as a trans pioneer – even preparing herself for a martyr's role if society's attitudes shift once more. All that despite the best intentions of her psyche to blurt the most inappropriate things at the most inopportune times.

Unapologetic about wading into the practicalities of lesbian sex or administering hard drugs, there's little triumphalism in Black's endurance, just a waggish sense of mischief and appreciation of her own ridiculousness, not least as she demonstrates how her hard-living years have damaged her capacity to retain her concentration. A unique and engaging performer, irrespective of her backstory, it's a pleasure to see her back performing full-length shows again.