Paldem at Summerhall – Edinburgh Fringe review

Industry actor and BAFTA Rising Star winner David Jonsson has hit on a fascinating theme for his debut play. Noting the rise of OnlyFans and the amateur porn industry, he asks just how far friends can go in their physical relationships before they damage their emotional core.

He’s also got a really good ear for witty, lively dialogue that perfectly catches the demotic of the banter between Megan (Tash Cowley) and Kevin (Michael Workeye), once lovers, now just mates, who accidentally film themselves having casual sex on returning from a wedding.

“We have really good sex, we always did,” says Megan admiringly, once she gets over her initial shock. Realising that what they have captured on camera might have some monetary value in the booming internet landscape for all forms of pornography, they create an online partner persona. “We’re trending on interracial,” Kevin says proudly.

The world they have entered makes for some funny encounters. There’s an excruciating attempt at a foursome, with a couple of sophisticated European “sex-fluencers” where Kevin’s ability to speak fluent French is not the only thing that makes Megan feel uneasy.

They make money and it becomes a business, but all the time the fantasy they are creating prevents them from exploring their feelings for one another – or even discovering where they are moored in their real lives.

The ideas are rich, the performances touchingly convincing and the staging by Zi Alikhan – on a set that incorporates a video screen as well as a white sofa – is stylish. The sex scenes, though, are slightly clumsy, which might be the point, but it feels distancing. I did also wonder whether Kevin might have removed his tie slightly earlier in the initial proceedings.

But once he has set up this intriguing relationship, Jonsson seems to get stuck. We don’t know enough about either of the protagonists to understand the decisions they are taking and whether their venture is driven by financial necessity or genuine curiosity; racial tensions and resentments emerge too late to make much impact on the drama.

Yet there’s no doubt about the talent in the writing or the dialogue. Paldem bursts with intriguing, unusual insights. It just needs a bit more development – and perhaps a little more time for the characters to grow beyond the initial idea.