In her deeply personal solo show Homecumming, writer, performer and producer Magalie Rouillard-Bazinet turns heartbreak, lost orgasms and a painful chapter of her life into a dark comedy where tears can turn to laughter on a dime.
We spoke to Magalie during the Edinburgh Festival Fringe about letting go of orgasm as the ultimate goal of sex, finding happiness within yourself, and creating a show she hopes will make audiences cry, laugh and maybe leave “a little horny”.
If you had to describe Homecumming in three words, what would they be?
Orgasm-deprived dramedy.
It took you several years to bring the show to Edinburgh. Where did it begin, and how different is the show you’re performing now from the one you first imagined?
I premiered at Montreal Fringe in 2024 in French. That went well, and the next year I did it in both English and French and won Best Narrative.
I then took it independently to Toronto and Vancouver, and in 2026 I started the year at Adelaide Fringe. That’s where Summerhall scouted my show. They were like, “We want you,” and I was like, “Yeah!” It was a relief because it’s really hard to be the artist, the performer, the producer, the social media manager, doing the marketing, ads and making your own posters so it was nice to perform under the Summerhalll Arts umbrella. It’s a relief really, thank God!
The show itself has changed too. I cut a whole part at the beginning where I was explaining the piece and the title. I was like, “Nah, I’m not going to explain the title. I’m just going to start the show and say, ‘I can’t cum anymore.’” That’s the first line of the show. Once I made that choice, my director Marie Queenan said: “So it’s a different show now!” And it was. Darker, no bullshit, while keeping the fun and the sexy.
I also brought back a section about a situationship that I’d cut from the first version. It felt important because you need to see the character reliving the same patterns until she ultimately cuts the cord and makes a move to change and have a better life.
Conversations about sex often treat orgasms as the ultimate goal. Has your own journey changed how you think about orgasms and what makes sex good?
I once had a lover tell me that sex is not a destination. It’s a journey, very much like happiness. Happiness, sex, enjoying your life: it’s a choice. You’re somehow in control of it, even though you’re not in control of the outcome. You’re in control of the day-to-day, or maybe the present moment a little bit.
Throughout my journey of not having vaginal orgasms, I’ve come to a point in my life where I’ve reached acceptance. I was no longer going to let the lack of orgasm make me unhappy and stop me from enjoying sex.
There are a lot of women who have never had an orgasm, whether clitoral or vaginal, at all. They don’t even know what it is, and I’m sure they enjoy sex.
The thing in my story is that I lost something I was very used to, and it was easy access for me. When I lost it, just like in the play, the heroine and I lose it. We go crazy.
I hit rock bottom in my life. I was in a very dark place. I was not depressed clinically, but it was a very dark time.
At some point, even though the orgasms were not coming back, I decided to choose happiness. I’m not going to wait for the orgasms to come back.
I chose myself.
I don’t think we should rely on external factors to be happy, because that’s very, very dangerous.
Relying on external love, relying on men liking us, relying on being successful at work, relying on booking gigs as an actor… you can’t rely on anything external that you can’t control.
You’ll be very unhappy if you do that.
What do you hope audiences take away from the show?
That they can find happiness within themselves. It starts here.
No one’s going to save you. You’re going to save yourself. The saviour’s right there. You just have to look at yourself and look inward.
There’s hope. And there’s therapy too. Therapy is… everybody should do therapy!
Save yourselves.
There are moments in the show that are very funny alongside moments that are painful. How have audiences responded to that balance?
Audiences really like the show. After talking to some of the artists I’ve made friends with, they have said, “We don’t know sometimes whether we should laugh or feel bad for you.”
And I’m like, “Please laugh and feel bad. Do both. I won’t be offended.”
Because comedy comes from truth. Sometimes the actor’s crying, but it’s funny. Because it is still a performance. It’s not a witness interview that you shouldn’t laugh at, you know what I mean? It’s still entertainment. It’s show business.
I want people to have a good laugh. It’s a dark comedy. It’s meant to be funny.
What other Fringe shows have you seen that you’d recommend?
Creepy Boys: SLUGS. It’s so good. It’s such a fun, entertaining, sexy, weird, artistic and witty, crazy comedy. It’s so good, it’s pure entertainment.
Also, HAM is so good. It’s a parody of Hamlet from Shakespeare, but Hamlet is vegan and Gertrude, his mother, is a sausage enthusiast.
They play videos of animals being slaughtered in the background. It’s dark at times. I’m a vegan and I’ve seen these videos, but I’m still horrified every time. I’m like, “Oh God.”
It’s such a good show, because the vegans and the non-vegans will love this show. Everybody should see this show. It’s amazing.
I would also recommend I AM JOHNNY. The performer is impersonating a Northern English man.
You believe the character so much. The character work — the physicality, the voice, the accent and the commitment to the piece — is incredible. It’s really funny, but the character takes himself very seriously, and that’s what’s so funny.
And Jitters. Jitters is a more conventional modern theatre play. It’s British, and it’s about this woman who’s about to marry the other woman’s dad, and they’re the same age. So there’s a bit of critique on her being a sugar baby or marrying up for money.
It’s incredible. It starts like a comedy, with ping-pong dialogue, and it ends a bit more dramatic. It ends with a massive fight because the daughter doesn’t want this woman to marry her dad.
It’s more modern, less Fringe-extra, but if you like modern theatre, it’s a good modern comedy. It’s great.
Main image: Magalie Rouillard-Bazinet in Homecumming. Credit: Bhushan from
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