By Jean-Philippe Lehoux. Directed by Philippe Lambert and Jean-Philippe Lehoux. A Théâtre Hors Taxes production, presented by Théâtre la Seizième at Studio 16 on Tuesday, May 2. Continues until May 6

Napoléon Voyage lets you travel around the world without leaving your seat. Along the way, you get to laugh at and be moved by a dedicated traveller’s misadventures.

That traveller is Jean-Philippe Lehoux, who begins the play groggy and shivering in his seat on a plane bound for Cuba. Idly perusing a magazine feature about Napoleon, he inserts his own name into the narrative, eager to relate to the places he visits as something more than just a tourist.

Lehoux traces his love of travel back to a childhood trip to Costa Rica with his family, and throughout the play, he moves around the stage and around the world, telling superbly crafted tales of his journeys. He visits Bosnia-Herzegovina in 2003, where his driver speaks just six words in two days: when Lehoux asks the driver what he did after the war ended, he replies, “Sex. With Serbian women. Ate banana.”

Lehoux recounts a disastrous turn as a pastry chef in England, a stint teaching English in Japan, and some serious intestinal trouble in prewar Syria. Actually, intestinal trouble is a running thread in the show, something Lehoux acknowledges, but his descriptions are inventive: he describes feeling his bowels empty “like God was whacking a symbolic bottle of ketchup”.

The lyricism of Lehoux’s writing is complemented by the music of his performing partner, Bertrand Lemoyne, who rounds out the stories with songs, accompanying himself on guitar, ukulele, and even kazoo. Ranging from whimsical (a karaoke “Mr. Roboto”) to wistful, the songs always enhance the emotion of Lehoux’s narrative.

Codirector (with Lehoux) Philippe Lambert keeps the staging simple and uncluttered, foregrounding Lehoux’s engaging presence. The script might benefit from a few cuts, and the story of a youthful friend feels unmoored from the rest of the narrative, but these are minor quibbles in a generally charming show.

You may not be a conqueror of worlds—you may even, like Lehoux, have trouble staying off the toilet when you travel—but you can still enjoy the journey.