Roleplay at Summerhall – Edinburgh Fringe review

There is an undoubtedly sharp, contemporary premise beating at the heart of Hannah Reilly’s solo show, Roleplay.

Structured around a Faustian pact for the digital age, the plot follows aspiring podcaster Danni, offered an extraordinarily lucrative contract. The catch? To nail it, she must first stoke up a digital audience of 100,000 listeners, and she thinks the best way to achieve this is by jumping feet-first into the world of sex-positivity, sex-work, even sex-dungeons.

Reilly’s script smartly probes the modern obsession with engagement, where personal worth is inextricably tied to profile, with individuals jettisoning close relationships in the process. Even your mother’s outrage becomes nothing more than content to be remixed, rerecorded and reshared. It touches on a remarkable number of complex themes, dabbling in ideas of sex, agency, and female empowerment whilst questioning what happens when shock value becomes our primary social currency.

As a performer, Riley is magnetic. She shifts seamlessly between a series of well-drawn characters in Danni’s life with immense charisma, grounded by slick direction from Fangirl‘s Paige Rattray and a crisp, immersive sound design courtesy of Lucy Baker-Swinburn  that keeps the narrative moving at a brisk clip.

Yet for a piece focussed on boundary-pushing notoriety, Roleplay feels surprisingly safe. In an Edinburgh Fringe ecosystem where provocative discussions around digital culture, morality and sexuality are well-trodden territory, the show lacks the raw grit or genuine shock factor needed to truly unsettle its audience. The narrative treads familiar ground, and as a result, a concept that ought to feel dangerous and unpredictable can, until the final few plot beats, feel a little staid and overly controlled. Roleplay ultimately holds its punches, stopping just short of the audacious, visceral sting its premise promises.

See all our Edinburgh Fringe reviews in the guide below.