Review: LOVESTUCK, Theatre Royal Stratford East

Photo credit: Mark Senior

Believe it or not, Lovestuck is based on true events. As mortifying as it sounds, a woman really did get stuck in her Tinder date’s bathroom window while trying to throw her poo out into the street below. It did indeed go viral at the time and was even the inspiration for a scene in the hit Australian comedy Colin From Accounts. The broad spectrum of art, eh?

The key to any fictional portrayal of that poor woman’s mortifying episode is that it has to be genuinely funny and, thankfully, Lovestuck ticks that box. The humour is easy and in abundance, and director Jamie Morton deserves a lot of credit, as well James Cooper for the show’s razor-sharp book.

The leads here are Peter (played by Shane O’Riordan) and Lucy (Ambra Caserotti, covering the role due to Jessica Boshier sustaining an injury). The pair have infectious chemistry and Caserotti handles the comedy, both in terms of subtle dialogue and in the broader physical sense, so well. Highlights include the initial date scene in low-rent Mexican restaurant Juan Night Only and, of course, the fallout from the bathroom sequence.

But it is Bridgette Amofah who steals every scene she is in as Miseraie, Lucy’s innermost thoughts represented in body form by a fitness influencer she used to go to school with. From Act One’s ‘Basically Basic’ to the big dance number ‘Cat Lady’, Amofah is hilarious, has incredible stage presence and does not miss a comedic beat.

Johan Munir as David, Peter’s posho rugby lad from Putney type friend, is perfectly cast as the villain of the piece (he’s the one who causes the incident to go viral) but in such a loveable way. “Thick skin, big grin” he tells David, while making him homeless by evicting him from his flat. Holly Liburd also deserves a mention for working so hard in the ensemble and getting big laughs as a variety of different characters.

Meanwhile, there is an overarching narrative that the story is something of a fairytale and, in this case, the story is narrated by none other than Alison Steadman. It is pre-recorded audio but that doesn’t matter and it soon becomes obvious why she was approached for the role.

We feel that the show would perhaps benefit from being a more concise 90 minutes without an interval, and Bryn Christopher’s score, while fun in the moment, is sometimes forgettable and lyrically glib.

It has more heart and self-awareness than the strikingly similar Why Am I So Single? but the score falls short. Perhaps if that show’s songwriters had taken on this story, we could have had the best of both worlds. As it is, Lovestuck is stuck between being an enjoyable show with a funny book and lacking musically which, for a musical, is a problem.

*** Three stars

Reviewed by: Tom Ambrose

Lovestuck plays at the Theatre Royal Stratford East until 12 July, with further information here.