Edinburgh Fringe 2024
You Deserve It
Out of Order Productions
Genre: Drama, Fringe Theatre, New Writing, Theatre
Venue: theSpace on the Mile
Festival: Edinburgh Fringe
Low Down
A group of friends book a glamorous penthouse for a post premier gathering and things get progressively stranger as someone attempts to peel back the polished veneer and highlight the corruption beneath. For the majority of the performance things ran smoothly, but there were a couple of instances of line slip ups that may have drawn audiences out of the action for a second. You Deserve It feels like a mixture of Posh and If We Were Villains, the blending of insufferable wealth and actors making for an interesting, if familiar scenario.
Review
A group of friends book a glamorous penthouse for a post premier gathering and things get progressively stranger as someone attempts to peel back the polished veneer and highlight the corruption beneath. This is a story we have seen a hundred times before and there are two ways to go with it – either condemnation or humour. In this case, the focus seems to be largely on the latter, with a cyclical structure that brings us back around to the opening monologue while highlighting that there has been no arc, no development for any of these characters – they are just as they always were.
Throughout the course of the play we gain an insight into this interesting mix of larger than life characters and their relationships with the other members of the group. The occasional new piece of information coming to light leads to discussion and seeks to highlight the layers of corruption and secrets at play. These characters are all involved in the world of performance in one way or another, being the children of successful members of the industry, and there whole life is portrayed as a carefully presented play. The first character to be introduced is Skye, who opens the play with a strong monologue that draws the audience immediately into the story.
The character of Skye is played as arguably one of the most dynamic, the performance being at once tortured and introverted. Yasmin Taylor brings a carefulness and sensitivity to the role, which feels perfectly calculated for a character who could easily have felt a little two dimensional. At her side much of the time, Blair is the wallflower (played by Robbie Small), fading partly into the background – and for good reason! There are certain points which could have held a little more power but for the most part his is a competent performance. Each of the other characters has their stand out moment, with memorable lines or a little time where they are the centre of attention, highlighting that there truly isn’t a lead character but rather a dysfunctional ensemble. Jess Ferrier has clearly thought about the different types that she wishes to represent, as each has a distinct personality despite the challenges of the play’s length and the number of characters. For the majority of the performance things ran smoothly, but there were a couple of instances of line slip ups that may have drawn audiences out of the action for a second.
You Deserve It feels like a mixture of Laura Wade’s Posh and M. L. Rio’s If We Were Villains, the blending of insufferable wealth and actors making for an interesting, if familiar premise. The play is self aware, throwing in a reference to Saltburn early on which carries weight once we reach the end. Yet, the ending does not quite manage to hit the climax it is aiming for, the big reveal somehow falling slightly short. Whether that is as a result of script or performers, however, is not entirely clear. Overall, there are some memorable moments, from the camera flashes of the paparazzi to the return to the opening monologue at the end. It is a play which is undeniably comedic while attempting to highlight some of the realities of a life in the spotlight.
