Rating: ★★★★
Venue: Old Lab at Summerhall, Edinburgh
Recipient of the 2026 Mary Dick Award. Keron Day is disabled. Dani is his Personal Assistant (not as fancy as it sounds). A touching and funny exploration of how care goes both ways, inspired by a true story, with a live folk-infused score. From the multi award-winning Patch of Blue (Cassie and the Lights – Lyn Gardner's Best Theatre of Edinburgh Fringe (Stage), **** (Guardian), **** (New York Stage Review)) and 3 hearts canvas (SPIN – Best Solo Show of The Fringe (Theatre Weekly)).
As a wheelchair user myself, it is so refreshing to see authentic and honest disability representation on stage. The Edinburgh Fringe is not the most accessible event in the world, despite more work now being done to improve this, and so it was even more special to see a story from a disabled writer, performed by a disabled actor who has visible support needs and yet avoids inspiration porn completely. It can be a tricky line to toe, but Keron Day and the team at You and Me (and Whoever Comes Next) did it with ease and transparency.
This show is an hour long play, with music and vocals, live instruments and some physical theatre montages. It treats the fourth wall as an optional character, and there isn’t really a divide between the audience and actors. But it’s not immersive either. We are just a fly on the wall in their world, and I’ve never seen a bluebottle as engaged as I was.
60 minutes whizz by (pardon the electric mobility aid pun) as we are taken through mostly true stories of Keron’s experience with PAs and the UK medical care system. A lot of this is eye-opening, but much of the material doesn’t, unfortunately, come as a shock. Which is why I feel this script is so important to share in the current climate. These experiences are real, raw, and often unacceptable - but nothing will change if people don’t see it. I’d like to thank Keron for being so open about his own feelings and acknowledge that it’s a very brave and vulnerable thing to do, more so than others might realise.
It feels like there could definitely be room for expansion here, and the cast did mention that cuts had to be made to stay within their time slot, so I would definitely be interested in seeing a more fully realised version of this piece in the future.
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