Public the musical at Curve is funny, heartfelt and worth every minute

There is something almost aggressive about the simplicity of this premise. Four strangers, locked overnight in a gender-neutral public toilet. No phone signal. No way out. From that constraint, Stroud and Notes have built a 90-minute pop-rock musical that arrived at Curve Leicester carrying two festival awards and a reputation to match. The question was whether the space, and the expanded script, could hold it. Mostly, it can.

The four characters are drawn along lines that feel immediately familiar: Zo (Grace Towning), an influencer-activist dressed as a bumblebee; Andrew (Matt Corner), a Lycra-clad finance bro with the emotional vocabulary of a company report; Finlay (Ivano Turco), a young gay man holding together a life that keeps threatening to come apart; and Laura (Cole Dennis), non-binary, people-pleasing, trying to make a flight to their own wedding. They are types, yes, but the writing is smart enough to know that, and the performances mostly smart enough to move through and beyond it.

The two that stay with you are Turco and Dennis. Turco brings a quiet, inward fragility to Finlay that feels genuinely earned. His is not the showiest role, but it is the most affecting, and his rendition of "Nervous Disposition" is the moment the show reaches something closer to real feeling. Dennis gives Laura a warmth and groundedness that makes them the emotional centre of the piece, the person you keep returning to. Their scenes together, shared minorities finding common ground without needing to perform it, land with a honesty the show earns rather than assumes.

Amy Jane Cook's set design is one of the production's genuine achievements: the hand dryer, the graffiti, the tiles, the retractable fittings. It is entirely recognisable, which matters for a show that depends on you believing these people are actually stuck here. Katy Morison's lighting shifts between the grubby realism of fluorescent overheads and a full neon rave sequence that the set somehow accommodates without strain. Russell Ditchfield's sound design completes the picture, placing you inside the space rather than watching it.

Kyla Stroud's score is propulsive and frequently catchy. "Small Talk," "Graffiti," and "Missing Pieces" are the kind of numbers that stay in the ear past the theatre doors. The ensemble harmonies are tight and handled with ease by all four performers. What the score does very well is vary its energy, pulling back in the second half as the night wears on and people start to lower what they carry.

Where the production is less sure of itself is in the transition between scenes and songs. There are moments, more than a handful, where the arrival of the next number feels too signalled, the pivot from dialogue to singing too mechanical. For a show built around emotional honesty and spontaneous connection, that rhythmic unevenness is noticeable. The scenes and the songs sometimes feel like they were made in different rooms and are still finding their way to each other.

That is not a fatal problem, and in a show that is still developing, it may well tighten. What matters is that the topics the show is wrestling with are real, and it is wrestling with them from the inside, from the perspective of people who actually live them. Queer identity, performative allyship, the exhaustion of having to represent your community while also trying to survive your week. These are not talking points here. They are the texture of the characters' lives, and the show treats them accordingly.

Public the musical is warm, funny, and sometimes genuinely moving. It has work still to do on its own internal rhythm, but it has more than enough to make the case for its next life.

Director: Hannah Sands

‍Writers: Hannah Sands, Kyla Stroud, Natalie Stroud

‍Composer: Kyla Stroud

‍Choreographer: Natalie Stroud

‍Cast: Matt Corner, Grace Towning, Ivano Turco, Cole Dennis

‍Set and costume design: Amy Jane Cook

‍Lighting design: Katy Morison

‍Sound design: Russell Ditchfield

‍Production: Roast Productions in association with Curve

‍Running time: 90 minutes (no interval)

‍Rating: 4.5/5