Edinburgh Fringe blog: Public – The Musical co-writer on a show with ‘compassion at its heart’

Look, you know it and I know it… we all poop. Now I have your attention, let me tell you a little story about a little rock/pop musical, making its little debut at Fringe 2023.

It was a warm, sunny day in January… somewhere, but in ye olde county of Kent, it was raining. It was on that gloomy day that Public – The Musical was born! Four strangers: Zo, Laura, Finley and Andrew, trapped in a gender-neutral public bathroom for one hour. BOOM. And the Olivier award for most succinct synopsis goes to…

I digress.

‘What’s the inspiration?’ I hear you cry!

They say write what you know. Well, as a predominantly queer team, the questions around gender-identity, queerness and equality are not new to us. These are talks we’re having to have with our families, our friends, sometimes that partner of so-and-so you’ve only met twice.

They’re not always easy. In fact, they can sometimes seem darn right impossible. How do we help two people (slash, the entire world!) have these harder conversations without it ending in tears and pushing both parties further away? How can we encourage a more compassionate approach to hearing someone else’s opinion? Write a musical about it!

We put conversation and compassion at its heart because that’s what’s important to us. The chats that spill out throughout cover topics like mental health, privilege, queer representation and gender expression, all subjects the team, especially my twin and idea originator Kyla, relate to all too well. This isn’t a show to point fingers, but to open up the dialogue, to put on a different pair of shoes, and to tap along to some beautiful-but-catchy tunes!

Speaking of tunes, my final comment is about the songs – correction – the absolute BANGERS. I’ve been my twin’s biggest fan since their first song “Baggy Jeans”, but there is honestly no bias when I say the songs in this show are phenomenal, although Kyla will always say “they still need work”. Kyla (with a little help from yours truly and our musical director Liv) has written a score that is alive; it’s got heart, energy, emotion and lyrics that hit in that ‘I’m not crying, you are’ kinda way.

I mean, it’s crazy to think we started this show only a year ago. We’re so bloomin’ excited to be heading to Fringe thanks to the support of The Pleasance Theatre’s Charlie Hartill Fund and all our other supporters. Excited and, well, a tiny bit scared to share it with the world. But hey, if it helps just one person understand something they hadn’t before – that’ll be our job done.

Oh… and an Olivier.

Public – The Musical is at Pleasance Courtyard from 2 to 28 August (not 9, 21)