EDINBURGH 2025: Review: PALDEM, Summerhall

Paldem, a new, sexy and dark play written by BAFTA Rising Star winner David Jonsson, who you may know from his roles in Rye Lane, Alien: Romulus and the upcoming Stephen King adaptation The Long Walk, made its world premiere at this year's Edinburgh Festival Fringe, and what an impressive debut it was. 

The play opens with Kevin and Megan returning to Kevin’s flat after a long day of celebrating the marriage of two of their close friends. The show gets off to a great start with the two exchanging fast paced, witty, one liners, immediately endearing themselves to the audience. After filming a congratulatory message to the newlyweds, the pair engage in a desperate one night stand that they realise had been captured all on camera. Turns out she (Natasha Cowley) likes the outcome. “We’re hot,” she says to him (Michael Workéyè), watching back the footage. Naturally, the two friends decide to start a pornographic OnlyFans account, providing homemade sex tapes for their fans and an income stream for the both of them.

The set replicates that of a living room cum photography studio, with a blank white screen in the background on which the images captured by Kevin’s camera are projected. The way in which director Zi Alikhan uses the set is ingenious, capturing the visuals of the content we can access at the click of a button, as well as just how much of the picture we aren’t actually seeing.

Given the subject matter, there is, of course, a lot of sex and nudity throughout the play. A rarity on stage, one must applaud the actors in this sense, and just how vulnerable they have to be in a room full of strangers night after night after night. The sex scenes themselves are incredibly well done. The chemistry between the two actors shines through in how physical they are with one another. Much like the content you might find on Only Fans or any other adult website, the scenes feel like an invasion of privacy, yet, we can’t look away.

Between the one night stands and the awkward foursomes with Italian tourists, there are some incredibly interesting conversations, the sort of conversations that only happen between two people that have seen the deepest, darkest, most vulnerable sides of each other. Discussions around race, fetishisms and interracial dating, all of which come to a head in a heart-pounding and heartbreaking finale. 

Paldem is a wonderful piece of theatre, the sort of risky, dangerous and important work that can only come from a first time writer. The dialogue around race throughout the show is thought provoking and measured and is sure to linger in the mind of audiences for days. The central performances from Natasha Cowley & Michael Workéyè are marvelous, elevating Jonsson’s already impeccable script, all of which is handled masterfully by Alikhan’s direction. Jonsson is sure to be a bonafide star come the end of this year and Paldem is certain to be part of the reason why. 

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