Fringe review: PUBLIC - THE MUSICAL, Stroud & Notes - Edinburgh Festival Fringe

A gender neutral public toilet. Not your usual place to set a musical but wow, does it work!

Four strangers find themselves trapped with an hour to kill before maintenance arrive to get them out. They find themselves navigating pungent opinions, some seriously sticky conversations and some unexpected challenges.

Created by queer-led theatre collective Stroud & Notes, Public - The Musical explores stories of identity, mental health, toxic masculinity, and compassion.

Written and composed by Kyla Stroud, Hannah Sands and Natalie Stroud, the script is funny, ironic and not afraid to question. The characters honesty, whether they are right or wrong in their ideals, is what makes this work. It is unafraid to speak out.

The cast includes Annabel Marlow (who has the essence of privileged eco-warrior totally wrapped up), Alicia Corrales (with some seriously honed vocals), Hugo Rolland (unbelievably making his professional debut) and Andrew Patrick-Walker (his compassionate side eventually surfacing above his 'bloke' characteristics and a vocal range to give you goosebumps).

This original musical score (musical supervisor Olivia Zacharia) is out of this world. Every single song has the strength to stand alone; it's catchy tunes, clever lyrics and memorable beats are ingrained in our memories from the moment we hear them and we need a cast album right now!

There is absolutely nothing we can find at fault with this production, costume, set, or music - it has everything…and it might just be our favourite at the Fringe so far, but don't tell anyone! Let's hope that this musical has as much success post-Fringe as Six has had, it thoroughly deserves it.

Equally proud and loud.

***** Five stars

Reviewed by: Rachel Louise Martin

Public - The Musical plays in Pleasance Two at Pleasance Courtyard at 6.30pm until 28 August