As this new one-woman-show reminds us in more ways than one, success can be a double-edged sword.
Written and performed by relatively unknown Australian comic Hannah Reilly, Roleplay had sold out its Fringe run before the festival began and there’s an obvious reason why: its producer, Francesca Moody, has been responsible for a series of solo shows that have in recent years almost single handedly resurrected the festival’s reputation as the place to spot the stage and screen stars of tomorrow. Fleabag and Baby Reindeer are the biggies and 2024’s Weather Girl may well join the list when its A24-produced adaptation debuts on Netflix.
So you can see why a new Moody-produced solo show staged in perpetually hip Summerhall is an easy sell, and has featured in just about every preview theatre list for the festival. Does it pile on too much pressure, though?
Roleplay does not hide its light under a bushel, beginning as it does with Reilly strutting into the room in a bra and panties, before whipping off the former and grinding away topless to thunderous strippercore beats.
She’s Danni, the host of a little-listened to podcast that seems to exist to both celebrate and satirise sex positivity: ‘hey slut’, is how she greets her callers. That might have been the sum of her career, but a series of shady behind-the-scenes events leads to her being offered serious money by a big American corporation to make the show a mainstay of their empire. The catch is, she needs to show she can drastically boost her listenership – something she dives into with aplomb, abandoning the irony and satire as her ‘slutfluencer’ antics see her chasing moments of viral outrage as she throws herself headlong into a world of sex and drugs with a zeal that has serious repercussions for her friends and family.
A Francesca Moody-produced solo show in perpetually hip Summerhall is an easy sell
But it’s muddy storytelling. It seems poorly articulated why Danni’s career has taken this specific trajectory, or why the American bigwigs have set such a tough goal for her without offering support. The answer may lie in the fact that we’re told Roleplay is partly autobiographical and something like this may have actually happened to Reilly, but she could still explain it better. In essentially presenting it as an exaggerated fictional narrative where we have no real idea what’s true, it gives up any real sense of verisimilitude.
Likewise it’s hard to know exactly what to take home from it. The situation Danni finds herself in feels too outlandish to be viewed as a cautionary tale - clearly there are relatable aspects but the character’s blithe drift to the cusp of stardom for slightly hard-to-fathom reasons feels too wacky to simply be a case of ‘well this is what happens when you let yourself be exploited’. Meanwhile, a subplot about a mysterious woman trying to get in touch with Danni to tell her something important clunks and grinds like an elderly jalopy.
Paige Rattray’s production is kinetic and full-throttle, there are lots of good one-liners, and Reilly is a charismatic, essentially sympathetic presence. It’s just that the story doesn’t convince. And yes, it doesn’t have the excruciating relatability of Fleabag or the jaw-dropping honesty and emotional wallop of Baby Reindeer. It feels like it simply tries needlessly hard to provoke when it doesn’t have anything to back it up with. Are those fair comparisons? I mean maybe not, but ultimately Roleplay is already sold out because of them. Hopefully the production doesn’t coast on that success and tightens up as the Fringe wears on.
