What happens when your dreams come true? How much of your true self do you have to sacrifice in the pursuit of success? Roleplay by Hannah Reilly explores these questions through a modern sex positive female podcaster (Danni) in Australia, following her through ups and downs on her pursuit of a podcast deal with a media conglomerate.
We follow Danni, who has just turned thirty, as she grapples with the sexualised persona she is seeing success from on her podcast. How much of Danni does she lose whilst trying to be who her producers want her to be? And how many people can she alienate along the way? The play also explores her new relationship and how that is impacted by her newfound success… how much can her warping identity allow her to bend for one piece of ‘normality’.
A captivating one woman show, trying to be the new Fleabag – unfortunately falls short. It is part and parcel that every modern one woman show with a messy female protagonist is compared to Fleabag - especially with Francesca Moody Productions attached.
The show begins slightly shaky and takes a good twenty of the advertised seventy (almost ninety on press night) minute show to get momentum behind it. The set up begins like a comedian trying to relate to the audience with awkward sexual experiences and relatable comments about the modern dating scene - but this isn’t anything new that you wouldn’t see down your local comedy club on a Tuesday night.
Despite the shows shaky start, the momentum builds, and by the final twenty minutes I was taken by the protagonist’s journey. The mending of the characters relationships felt much more captivating and in depth - these moments contrasting the mood of the rest of the play and really holding the audience’s attention. Director, Paige Rattray, showing flair here to keep Reilly moving and utilising the stage – it was hard to predict what was coming next, which made Reilly all the more watchable.
There are some wonderful uses of tech in Roleplay. With three microphones and a beatpad - Reilly is able to move between the different voices in her story by using the microphones. One highlight being the use of vocal distortion for the Dungeon Master character - which was great fun. The other characters were accented by Reilly, and very well too, however they didn’t quite have the same effect as the Dungeon Master! As the character loses her grip on her identity the voices of the external characters become pre-recorded voiceovers as opposed to live performance via microphone. This was an interesting shift, which didn’t quite work as well - and the inconsistency made me question why the decision was made - was it to symbolise the characters grip of identity loosening - or was it a practical tech decision? I also would have loved to have seen a greater use of the beatpad than just for phone dings - the possibilities for the podcast set up are endless but hardly utilised.
Hannah Reilly as a performer is strongly physical and holds command of the stage throughout. The moments of dance are wonderfully engaging – if anything, I’d like to have seen Reilly using her physicality more – especially when embodying the other characters. There are brief moments of audience interaction - however, again, this could have been committed to more strongly.
As an Edinburgh Fringe transfer, I can see how the show did so well. A strong female performer and character, a story of a relatable, sexually charged woman striving for success in an increasingly difficult world, and audience interaction - what’s not to like? However, with this type of play being extremely saturated, Roleplay doesn’t stand out.
Roleplay is saved by its final twenty minutes which allows the audience to be touched by the character and her story as opposed to being taken along to an outdated comedy show. It is showing at The Soho Theatre, Dean Street until the 21st of November 2026.
★ ★ ★
Written by Eloise for Theatre and Tonic, October 2026.
Content warnings: haze and smoke effects, partial nudity, and references to sex and sexual violence.
