Little Lark of London

⭐⭐⭐

What happens when four strangers are trapped for an hour in a public, gender-neutral toilet? You get an hour-long show called Public – The Musical. The four people that are stuck together are Finley (Hugo Rolland), an anxious man desperately trying to call someone, Laura (Alicia Corrales), a nonbinary person worrying over their relationship,  Zo (Annabel Marlow), a social media “activist” dressed as a bumblebee, and Andrew (Andrew Patrick-Walker), an older man who struggles to understand modern concepts like pronouns. Of course, the range of personalities makes conflict inevitable, particularly whenever Zo is involved.

The plot feels incredibly forced, which is disappointing as it could make for some great conversations both within and after the show. Some interesting moments include an argument between Zo and Andrew about their viewpoints which points out some contradictions that make for a great conversation, but the characters move on from this quite quickly after a song. The show also never really finds a pace to settle on, switching between fast-pasted songs in which characters fight with one another and belty ballads about emotions. 

One of the main issues with the show is that none of the characters are likable, even with the small amount of development that happens over the hour-long show. They are each going through their own struggles, but there is nothing in their stories that really made me connect with any of them. Zo is by far the most unlikable character, constantly annoying the others and using silly references, and nothing that the writers do to try to make her more human works. Andrew may be unlikeable as well, but at least he shows some growth, making him a more interesting character. 

The vocals of all of the actors are spectacular, particularly those of Patrick-Walker, but the show starts to feel like it is simply a way for each singer to show off their vocal abilities with nearly every single song including riffs and belting. I would have liked some simpler songs interspersed throughout instead of one big song after another. 

Ultimately, while I wanted to love Public – The Musical, it failed to live up to expectations and was instead an hour of great songs with a paper thin plot and unlikeable characters. With some work on the script and some more character development, the show could become something great, matching the vocals of its cast. 

Public – The Musical ran at The Pleasance Courtyard, Pleasance Two.