“Have you ever been dumped?” Rosie Wilby asks the room of anonymous faces, coaxing us to open up before delving into her own five year relationship and subsequent breakup with an ex-girlfriend, which has formed the material for her show. With a hat tip to Chris Martin and Gwyneth Paltrow for coining the term ‘conscious uncoupling’ during their own breakup, this is Rosie Wilby: The Conscious Uncoupling, currently on as part of the Brighton Fringe.

Wilby splits her story into two time frames: relationship and post-relationship. Sitting stage left she recounts snippets of happy memories – rose-tinted diary entries – from her time with her ex-girlfriend, told to a backdrop of Richard Hawley’s lilting, romantic music. Breathing humour into the show she wittily juxtaposes her feelings in moments such as the all-encompassing first kiss with the blurred-out, often forgotten realities of these moments, such as the matronly holler from inside the pub that it’s closing time. After all, as Wilby eloquently reminds us, “there’s nothing more romantic than someone who’s not there”. These glowing, passionate sequences are contrasted with Wilby standing stage right, music off, reading emails between her and her ex-girlfriend from the months following their breakup, which again she keeps humorous with remarks such as how heartbreak heightens the romance and makes poets out of us all. Perhaps this format could have been changed up a bit, but with just under an hour to perform the show, Wilby’s narrative is thoroughly engrossing as it is.

A slightly less successful element to the show is the ghost sequences, in which Wilby lights her face with a torch or dresses in a white cape making ‘wooing’ noises, all of which is a bit too silly and basic for the audience. Equally frustrating were the moments of tardy tech, which meant transitions between Hawley music and email beeps were awkwardly slow. Wilby, however, is a talented comedian, writer and actress. I shan’t spoil her gags by going into too much detail here, but her comparisons between casual flings and airport conveyor belt walkways, and changing a difficult partner to opening a jar for the next person, are metaphorical gold.

Reminding us to break up with one another properly in the future, Wilby ends her show as she opens it: mocking breakups in the technological age. Wilby is a voice for the LGBT community and hers is a refreshing relationship story to listen to. She’s entertaining to watch, packs her show with honest, relatable material and has her audience laughing throughout.

Rosie Wilby: The Conscious Uncoupling is playing the Dukebox Theatre until 25 May 2016. For more information and tickets, see Brighton Fringe website.