![Pinterest](https://pinterest.com/pin/create/button/?url=https://uknews.evprotec.com/edinburgh-fringe-musical-set-in-gender-neutral-toilet-becomes-hot-ticket/&media=https://uknews.evprotec.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/130878088_public-the-musical-photo-credit-by-jonny-ruff-pleasance-9.jpg&description=Image source, Jonny Ruff Image caption, Four strangers get trapped in a gender neutral toilet in Public - The Musical It might not sound like the most obvious premise for a hit show, but a musical set in a gender neutral public toilet has become one of the hottest tickets at this year's Edinburgh Fringe. Kyla Stroud had spent several years struggling to make a name as a singer-songwriter when the pandemic prompted a rethink. "Through lockdown, I really fell out of love with the music industry," says Kyla, who also fell into "a really low mental health dip". "I was just trying to find some joy again in life and asked myself, 'When was I last happy? When I was doing am dram [amateur dramatics] when I was a teenager. Maybe I should try and write musical.' "I knew it was going to have to be a simple concept. So I thought, well, what would be interesting to me right now?" After lockdown pushed everyone physically apart - and with many people emerging more psychologically splintered after it ended - Kyla decided to throw a group of strangers together. "Let's find a way to make people who shouldn't connect, or don't want to connect... let's make them connect, and find their similarities, and find their compassion." Image caption, Annabel Marlow plays Zo, an irritating and privileged Gen-Z activist Discussions about gender identity were also increasingly in the air, and were close to home for Kyla, who uses they/them pronouns. So in Public - The Musical, four fictional strangers - with varying outlooks, predicaments and pronouns - get trapped together in a gender neutral public toilet. There is Zo (played by Annabel Marlow), a privileged Gen-Z activist who's on her way to lead an anti-pesticide protest - Operation Pollination for the Nation. Laura (Alicia Corales) is non-binary, non-confrontational, and has just discovered their girlfriend has been unfaithful. Finlay (Hugo Rolland), a gay man, has crippling anxiety and an appointment to stop his Universal Credit from being){kind=link}
It might not sound like the most obvious premise for a hit show, but a musical set in a gender neutral public toilet has become one of the hottest tickets at this year’s Edinburgh Fringe.
Kyla Stroud had spent several years struggling to make a name as a singer-songwriter when the pandemic prompted a rethink.
“Through lockdown, I really fell out of love with the music industry,” says Kyla, who also fell into “a really low mental health dip”.
“I was just trying to find some joy again in life and asked myself, ‘When was I last happy? When I was doing am dram [amateur dramatics] when I was a teenager. Maybe I should try and write musical.’
“I knew it was going to have to be a simple concept. So I thought, well, what would be interesting to me right now?”