This is exactly the sort of show you hope to come across at the Fringe: funny, messy, hugely imperfect but so packed full of talent and great ideas that it really doesn’t matter. Written by queer theatre collective Stroud and Notes (Kyla Stroud, Natalie Stroud and Hannah Sands), Public wonders what would happen if four strangers were trapped in a gender neutral public toilet for an hour, and sets it to music.
We’ve got drawling, privately educated Gen Z campaigner Zo – “Gemini, Leo rising, with a Cancer moon” - whose every utterance is like the worst of Tiktok distilled. Annabel Marlow absolutely milks the role, turning every line into comic gold. When one character asks what her job is, she replies, “I’m in between dreams at the moment.”
At the other end of the spectrum is Lycra-clad Andrew (Andrew Patrick-Walker, with an incredible voice), a blokey bloke who has a job in finance and doesn’t understand pronouns. Somewhere in the middle are Hugo Rolland as Finlay, gay and a walking panic attack, and Alicia Corrales’s Laura, non-binary but desperate to avoid confrontation.
Yes sparks fly at first, yes they all come to an understanding of their common humanity by the end, and yes they break into song along the way. But the show is so sharp and self-aware and fun as it hits these predictable marks that it’s impossible not to be swept along with it.
Director Hannah Sands brings out four committed performances from the cast, ramping the characters up into stereotypes in a way that works well. After all, this is not a subtle show. Its strokes are broad, especially in its later moments where the characters start to teach each other lessons about gender, terminology, allyship. It’s all a bit too idealised, a bit preachy.
But by the time those lessons in mutual understanding arrive, we’ve been so pulled in by the unrelenting, brilliantly observed comedy and the punchy pop songs that it all seems so much more palatable.
It’s the songwriting instincts of composer Kyla Stroud that really sell the show. Their background in Americana shines through strongly, with tight four-part harmonies that the cast absolutely nails and guitar-led hooks that turn every song into a hummable hit, especially the opening number Minute by Minute and a number about toilet graffiti.
It’s clear that this is Stroud and Notes’s first foray into musical theatre. The book, though funny, is also too baggy. Songs come and go in strange places, and sometimes it’s unclear if they’re finished. It’s dying for a bit of spit and polish, but when that comes, Public could really be a hit.
