Edinburgh Fringe 2026
Deckhand
Spinelly Productions and Los Angeles Theatre Initiative
Genre: Comedy, New Writing, Theatre
Venue: theSpace @ Niddry St
Festival: Edinburgh Fringe
Low Down
Camille is in an almighty tizz. She’s on Catalina Island for a big photo shoot arranged by Joseph, her 40 something year old agent with stress levels as taut as a guitar string. But her dress, accessories and make up are nowhere to be seen. Hence her 5am call to wake Joseph and demand action. Now! NOW!!
Review
Camille is in an almighty tizz. She’s on Catalina Island for a big photo shoot arranged by Joseph, her 40 something year old agent with stress levels as taut as a guitar string. But her dress, accessories and make up are nowhere to be seen. Hence her 5am call to wake Joseph and demand action. Now. Now!
Joseph’s panic-stricken response is to delegate, namely wake up his barely out of college but devoted assistant, Fiona, and get her to round up some alternatives whilst he heads down to the marina to crank up the ancient speed boat that he and his brother co-own, in a desperate bid to ensure that his biggest client gets exactly what she needs exactly when she needs it.
Cut to the marina and Joseph is pacing around the boat deck, seemingly barking instructions into thin air, but the ubiquitous ear piece reveals he’s actually yelling to his assistant to, how best to put this, get a wiggle on, as it will take at least three hours to sail to the island and it’s not much more than that before Camille is due in front of the cameras.
The scene is set for Deckhand, a high-octane, two-person comedy written by Grace Guy that premiered in Los Angeles and has sailed across the pond to make its Edinburgh Fringe debut. And it’s immediately obvious who is the deckhand in this piece and who is the master in charge. Or thinks he is.
The first two minutes of rapid-fire exchanges between the two actors should be taped and used in HR briefings on “how not to treat an employee” exhibiting as it does a symphony of toxic management styles, the dangers of power imbalance, the consequences of burnout and what happens when professional and personal boundaries become blurred. The words are clear, but the expressions their respective faces clearer; his steely, distant focus, orders barked out as if he was on a parade ground; hers all determined smiles as she makes his calls, orders up flowers, tracks down his wife and generally anticipates his every need.
But, once they set sail, reality starts to bite. Like the lack of a phone signal, for example, which comes as something of a shock to Joseph but at least gives the overworked Fiona a chance to breathe. And the only sustenance on board is a hip flask full of something potent enough to loosen Fiona’s inhibitions, just as the boat engine coughs its last, leaving them drifting in the middle of the briny.
The engine failure forms a convenient metaphor for the rapid disintegration of a workplace relationship that was, until that point, exhibiting horrendously similar characteristics to that between the current POTUS and his assistant, one Natalie Harp which, with marvellously serendipitous timing, was featured in the Financial Times Weekend edition on 22 August, two days before Deckhand set sail.
As night falls with no sign of rescue, so Fiona gradually loses the plot in a tirade that turns the tables on her overbearing employer. Their rescue results in a (slightly predictable) parting of the ways, leaving Joseph frantically searching for a new door mat.
Grace Guy’s tight script addresses a bunch of real live workplace issues – bullying, power imbalance, burnout, and boundaries have been mentioned above. But running throughout is the challenge of generational difference, which shows up in attitudes towards authority, contrasting career ambitions/expectations and particularly communication styles, where misunderstandings occur about what counts as urgent, what constitutes professionalism and what’s acceptable workplace behaviour.
This all comes across in spades, with the chemistry (and tensions) between the two actors evident from the get-go. Christopher Cassarino (Joseph) is the epitome of the horribly abrasive agent and Wylie Anderson (Fiona), who also directed the piece, the model of the professional doormat up to the point where she finally snaps, with a vehemence that leaves no doubt as to who is now in charge.
Short, sharp and to the point. Hard-hitting theatre with a clear message. Recommended viewing – but don’t forget your seasick pills.
