Following Fringe success in 2021, writer Martha Watson Allpress returns to Edinburgh with Lady Dealer, a one-person show that tackles contemporary themes of alienation and loneliness via a subject that is controversial, and language she hopes will surprise the audience.
‘The whole thing is told in poetry,’ she says. ‘It is not the normal, naturalistic language of the storytelling world. It has the pace of the protagonist’s brain, firing on all cylinders.’ Told in real-time, during a power cut that forces Charly (played by Alexa Davies) to examine her life of drug-dealing and self-destruction, Lady Dealer shares the unflinching seriousness of Allpress’ previous Edinburgh show, Patricia Gets Ready (For A Date With The Man That Used To Hit Her) and is a creative response to recent social anxiety.

‘It is definitely a product of the lockdown covid life,’ she continues. ‘The play is about loneliness and that was on everyone’s mind. The drug-dealing aspect came from thinking about what careers I perceived as the most lonely: [with drug dealing] you can’t build community because your community is the competition, and you can’t take your problems to HR.’

Allpress’ enthusiasm for theatre comes from her early recognition that it provides a unique experience: she recalls seeing amateur productions of Shakespeare at Lincoln Castle that hooked her through a sense of communal engagement and emotional intensity based on their ephemeral nature. Lady Dealer’s mixture of the gritty and the compassionate promises to humanise a job that is frequently placed outside of acceptable society.
‘The job is a by-product of loneliness, and it is what Charly clads herself in: the play is the process of removing that armour. And if you are the kind of person who has not looked after yourself, like the protagonist, it is a perfect ground for festering.’
Directed by Emily Aboud, who was recently awarded the Evening Standard’s Future Theatre Award, Lady Dealer represents a lively and energetic form of theatre which recognises the power of familiar monologues while addressing modern concerns with a vigorous dramaturgy. Allpress speaks with enthusiasm of Aboud’s quest to find ‘the moment’ of emotional intensity, something that goes beyond the language, dropping an audience into what she calls ‘the abyss of feeling. You tap into an extra layer of feeling: the words aren’t quite enough.’
And while the production is not autobiographical, Allpress recognises how a recent residency has informed her writing. ‘With Kestrel Theatre, I went into a prison (one of my favourite writing jobs) and I wrote a pantomime with the guys and they performed it,’ she explains. ‘These men were so funny, so respectful, kind and cool. And that time fed the empathy and the nuance that is now in Charly; so the person is shining more brightly than the practicalities of her job.’

Certainly, in Patricia Gets Ready, Allpress demonstrated a skill at exposing the complexities of her protagonist’s psychology, shuttling between self-doubt and self-assertion, and exploring the moral confusion caused by domestic violence. Lady Dealer speaks to similar difficult areas, finding a broader commentary on how alienation can impact on the individual in a story that is specific and subtle.
Nevertheless, Allpress avoids the obvious, skilfully negotiating that space between the familiar and the shocking, maintaining a healthy distance from Charly even as she captures a slice of her hectic and discomforting lifestyle. ‘We have to be really careful that no one thinks we are the drug dealers for the Fringe,’ she laughs. ‘I have never dealt drugs! My parents will be really happy with me saying that.’

Lady Dealer, Summerhall, 2–27 August, 4pm.