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King’s Head Theatre, London
Book and lyrics: Liesl Wilke
Music and lyrics: Andy March, with additional music and lyrics by Kyle Puccia
Cast: Lauren Ward, Grace Venus, Carrie Sutton, Evita Khrime, Josie Benson, Regina Co, Rebecca-Jo Roberts, Isabella Gervais, Cezarah Bonner, Emma Espada, Joana Kirkland
Director: Vikki Stone
Producer: Thomas Hopkins Productions
Dates of run: until March 23
Running time: 90mins (no interval)
The toilet options in the refurbished King’s Head Theatre are urinals for the real men and, for everyone else, unisex cubicles – or should I say stalls? to pick up the central pun in this musical set in a restroom that is exclusively for women.
The wider setting is Seattle – and it might as well be a world away in that this take on the contemporary experience of motherhood and daughterhood fails to resonate fully in North London.
Members of the audience, struggling to relate to what seem like exaggerated, stereotypical versions of the issues most likely to be aired beyond the hearing of men, frequently had the feeling they were meant to laugh and yet did so rarely, despite the forceful efforts of the cast.
Among the most sympathetic of the stalled characters is Serena, played with attitude by Evita Khrime, who tells us all she feels is anger.
Neither feel-good musical, nor protest piece, Stalled fails to rise to the challenge of harnessing that youthful anger, with the result Serena’s most pressing issue – that she has an unwanted pregnancy – never generates the full-blown debate on abortion our times demand.
Other topics of the day we sweep through, rather than grapple with, are coming out as gay, with Sophie (Isabella Gervais) and Krystal (regina Co) poignant and likeable in their dilemma, and autism.
Fresh acting graduate Grace Venus is Emma, obsessive lover of the colour blue and of numbers, who blithely weathers the fall-out of her shrill mother Cynthia, played by Josie Benson, who frantically visits the restroom between sessions with her shrink.
Benson’s Cynthia, mostly a bit too much, is redeemed by her sudden self-awareness that she would have behaved less madly, she hopes, had she realised the grief that drives Lauren Ward as Maggie, the attendant who keeps it all spotlessly clean.
Mother to all and none, Maggie is downtrodden and central, but the most convincing star of the show is Emily Bestow’s perfectly crafted set that puts the unisex cubicles in the foyer to shame.
Stalled
King’s Head Theatre, London
Book and lyrics: Liesl Wilke
Music and lyrics: Andy March, with additional music and lyrics by Kyle Puccia
Cast: Lauren Ward, Grace Venus, Carrie Sutton, Evita Khrime, Josie Benson, Regina Co, Rebecca-Jo Roberts, Isabella Gervais, Cezarah Bonner, Emma Espada, Joana Kirkland
Director: Vikki Stone
Producer: Thomas Hopkins Productions
Dates of run: until March 23
Running time: 90mins (no interval)
The toilet options in the refurbished King’s Head Theatre are urinals for the real men and, for everyone else, unisex cubicles – or should I say stalls? to pick up the central pun in this musical set in a restroom that is exclusively for women.
The wider setting is Seattle – and it might as well be a world away in that this take on the contemporary experience of motherhood and daughterhood fails to resonate fully in North London.
Members of the audience, struggling to relate to what seem like exaggerated, stereotypical versions of the issues most likely to be aired beyond the hearing of men, frequently had the feeling they were meant to laugh and yet did so rarely, despite the forceful efforts of the cast.
Among the most sympathetic of the stalled characters is Serena, played with attitude by Evita Khrime, who tells us all she feels is anger.
Neither feel-good musical, nor protest piece, Stalled fails to rise to the challenge of harnessing that youthful anger, with the result Serena’s most pressing issue – that she has an unwanted pregnancy – never generates the full-blown debate on abortion our times demand.
Other topics of the day we sweep through, rather than grapple with, are coming out as gay, with Sophie (Isabella Gervais) and Krystal (regina Co) poignant and likeable in their dilemma, and autism.
Fresh acting graduate Grace Venus is Emma, obsessive lover of the colour blue and of numbers, who blithely weathers the fall-out of her shrill mother Cynthia, played by Josie Benson, who frantically visits the restroom between sessions with her shrink.
Mother to all and none, Maggie is downtrodden and central, but the most convincing star of the show is Emily Bestow’s perfectly crafted set that puts the unisex cubicles in the foyer to shame.
Barbara Lewis © 2025.
By Barbara Lewis • plays, theatre, year 2025 • Tags: Barbara Lewis, plays, theatre