YOU AND ME (AND WHOEVER COMES NEXT)
Edinburgh Festival Fringe
★★★★★
“The writing is lively and playful”
Keron Day is a twenty-two year old guy from Cornwall who loves to socialise, have a laugh with his mates and listen to pop music. He really doesn’t like football. Or surprises. Keron is also disabled and requires support from a Personal Assistant to get by day-to-day. Unfortunately for Keron, a string of incompetent PAs have started making him question who the problem really is. Is it them, or is it him? But now, he’s got Dani. Finally, someone good comes along. And not only does she make a brilliant PA, but soon a real friendship develops between the two. However, even the best PA in the world can get it wrong sometimes, and this can be especially complicated when the line between employer and friend becomes blurred.
Sometimes you see a piece of theatre which touches you on a level you can’t quite put into words. And for me, this show was that. We’re introduced to Keron, his daily struggles and the general injustice he has to deal with, such as the threat of funding support being cut and the fact he needs assistance to get dressed. But Keron refuses to let any of this stop him living his best life. The truth though, as he tells us, is that his life is ultimately in the hands of the person who’s looking after him.
The show combines monologues to the audience and scenes underscored with live music. Day creates an immediate rapport with the audience, and I really enjoyed them starting with a scene, jumping straight into the drama, before then breaking the fourth wall and welcoming us in. I don’t want to give any major spoilers away, but the monologue he delivers about what happened during his birth is genuinely heartbreaking and can’t help but make you angry at the people who failed him, as well as the wider issues around the broken healthcare system in this country.
Day is joined on stage by Lauren Koster, who plays Dani, and Martha Walker as the other characters. Koster brings so much warmth and humour to the role. You can tell she genuinely cares about Keron and how disappointed she is with herself when she messes things up. Walker is equally engaging and brings a vibrant energy to her role. The whole piece is accompanied by live music which has a Cornish-folk quality to it. It does a superb job at creating atmosphere, with gentle guitar at the soft moments and screeching violin strings and drums when things get tense. There’s also accompanying sound effects which help to set the scenes, creating in one instance the gorgeous ebb and flow of the waves and the birds at the beach in Cornwall.
The writing is lively and playful. There are occasions in the second half where the text starts to feel a little shouty and with further development it would be nice to see a bit more teasing out of the dialogue here, finding a bit more nuance in the emotional shifts. However what it occasionally drops here it completely makes up for with its heart and message, ultimately creating a both funny and very moving piece of theatre with a commanding central performance from Day. It’s a true celebration of friendship and gives voice to a story and situation that should be given more attention. I hope lots more people get to see it. A real Edinburgh Fringe highlight!
YOU AND ME (AND WHOEVER COMES NEXT)
Old Lab at Summerhall at Edinburgh Festival Fringe
Reviewed on 26th August 2026
by Joseph Dunitz
