Writer Thesy Surface sets her sights on theatre and specifically the sadly under-appreciated life of 18th-century aristocrat, poet, feminist and scientist Lady Montagu, rightfully revelling in her taste for scandal, her forthright voice and her pioneering spirit. Performing this title role herself, she attempts to bring a modern swing to the proceedings with constant meta asides,modern technology and unyielding comedy. Furthermore, Christmas is worked in – ‘tis the season I guess. As you can imagine, this is a lot of flaming batons hurtling above Surface’s flowing curls.

Visually, she is impeccable, sweeping the floor in an embroidered white taffeta skirt and constraining corset, appropriate for a woman who was held back by the rules of her day. Surface’s energy is undeniable, and through the machine gun of current cultural cracks, some jokes hit their mark with deadly efficiency. The issue is that, in juggling the facts around and focusing on entertainment value and the racier sides to Lady M, we lose sight of this fantastic woman and her contribution to science.

It all started in Constantinople (a sentence I’ve always wanted to type). Lady M, after eloping with Earl Wortley Montagu shockingly follows him to his posting as ambassador to the Ottoman Empire. Already an accomplished poet, her letters home are an early and vivid account of her time in the East, and one of her most known works. There she witnesses the ancient practice of inoculation against the deadly smallpox virus. In Lady Montagu Unveiled we are told that she was then abandoned by her husband who kidnaps her children and returns to London, leaving her to romp across Europe having affairs and living her best life (enter hashtag here). This is patently untrue. She returned to London with her family when her husband’s post had ended and was instrumental in bringing inoculation to the West, famously trying the procedure out on both her children and taking her daughter to parties and inoculating everyone there. A battle with the medical community followed that to this day she is mainly uncredited for. Many more inaccuracies pockmark the production, though none is as glaring as this.

She did swan off to Europe and fall in love with a bisexual Venetian Count but that was 20-something years later. We are warned that this is a free and interpretive telling of her story and with the addition of iPads, modern references and rap music that is clear from the outset. That creative licence is accepted for famous figures like William Shakespeare or Jane Austen whose stories are already known. But the erasure of over twenty fascinating years of Lady M’s life skews her narrative to those who know no different.

Lady Montagu Unveiled is so overweighted with ‘cheeky’ asides that the real woman’s story is lost in the cacophony of text message dings. 73 years, various locations across Europe/Near East and a host of characters is a gargantuan task for any actor. Surface’s muti-roling isn’t precise enough, and without much set or lighting this is pivotal for the show. The minimal use of Lady M’s poetry (her own words) in favour of uncomfortable Christmas references and jokes means that we get more of a story of our actor/performer/producer than her subject, which seems a sadly missed opportunity.