At a global event where individual acts could blow £15,000 to perform in a B&Q shed for a month, The Understudy will resonate with many at the Fringe. It follows a late-twentysomething actor languishing as a ‘covid understudy’ for a theatre in Melbourne, quietly waiting for her shot onstage while suffering from a severe case of toxic positivity. Soon, her stuttering career gets the better of her, spiralling her dissatisfaction into a version of madness. Meanwhile, always one step ahead of her, a doppelganger appears to be taking over her life. 

If the one-woman show is ultimately a vehicle for the range of an actor’s talents, then Eva Seymour has crafted an ideal format to test herself, with a story that balances tragicomedy and a bracing sense of manic desperation. In a deftly written script, her journey through the exploitative world of the arts (unpaid work, cash-strapped institutions, a shift pattern that destroys personal relationships… you get the gist) transforms into a universal idea about the nature of trying to succeed in a modern, post-lockdown landscape. With its constant references to manifesting and the undercurrent of male entitlement that lurks behind the theatre curtain, it’s training a good-humoured eye on an individualistic world that has severed the line between the personal and the professional. 

An absurdist bent keeps the pace brisk, but it’s Seymour’s ability to career between scenes with a near-athletic dynamism that fills each plot beat with a sense of buoyancy and urgency.

The Understudy, Assembly George Square, until 30 August, 12.15pm; picture: Mouk Media.

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