Review: STALLED, King's Head Theatre

Set in a corporate building’s executive ladies’ room in Seattle and with its tagline promising us a story of “holding on, letting go and everything in between”, Liesl Wilke’s new musical Stalled makes its world premiere at Kings Head Theatre.

The production made something of a splash even before it opened by donating £35,000 to the newly opened venue in order to have new seating put in place. While porcelain thrones would have been more in keeping with the show’s setting, the new configuration has the action set in the round in stuffed pastel-coloured chairs and not the less comfortable pews and steeply raked incline that were there before.

The musical comes with a book and co-lyrics by Liesl Wilke and is based on her award-winning short story “Stalled Symphony”. The busy plot revolves around the often strained relationship between a multicultural set of mothers and daughters and their ever-evolving roles with grief, addiction and identity thrown into the mix. The inspiration for that story came from Wilkes’ own experience in ladies’ restrooms, the conversations she had there and the drama and complexities of the lives of the ordinary women she encountered there.

Designed by Offie Award-winning Emily Bestow, the realistic-looking set is bright and effective with four toilet cubicles, a bank of basins, and a sofa area. The setting remains the same throughout the piece and serves as a unique backdrop as the cast run a crowded songlist of 15 numbers in 90 minutes, a few of which come with charming choreography.

Olivier, Tony, and Drama Desk Awards nominee Lauren Ward plays Maggie, the mother of teenage girl Robin (Rebecca-Jo Roberts making her professional debut) as she keeps the restrooms clean, tidy and stocked with Chekhovian lavender hand lotion. She does a great job keeping the place spick and span so attracts many of the building’s office workers: Cynthia (Josie Benson), a neurotic, alcoholic mother, is dealing with a neurodivergent daughter, Emma (authentically portrayed by Grace Venus); Serena (Evita Khrime), an angsty Latina teenager with a talent for spoken word poetry has fallen for an older guy; Krystal (Regina Co), a sensitive young female software engineer struggling with her identity and her need for independence from her mother Angela (Cezarah Bonner) who holds traditional Asian family values; Mary-Anne (Carrie Sutton), Maggie’s sister and Sophie (Isabella Gervais), Krystal’s work colleague and confidante. 

Although very different, all the women we meet are stuck in their lives - or “stalled” - and are trying to find their way forward. Each one crosses paths with Maggie as they come to her restroom and, through their interactions, deeper layers of their own raw and hard-hitting stories are revealed. With its themes and one particular subplot, there are definite echoes of Next To Normal here in a show where there is total commitment from the all-female cast and genuine chemistry between Ward and Roberts.

The music effectively underscores the show’s emotional weight but some melodies were short on memorability and riffed too heavily off one another. The musicians (led by Livi Van Warmelo on keys alongside Saran Davies on cello, Amy Shaw on guitar and Isis Dunthorne on drums) keep pace throughout and the buoyant incidental music kept Stalled from stalling by maintaining the energy. There are some genuine highlights among the many numbers – not least “1-800 Help Me”, “Candy Apple Joy”, “Different Not Broken” and the title track – but there are few you’ll be humming them on your way down Upper Street. 

Stalled explores difficult themes in an unusual setting not often seen in musical theatre but the writing could be much tighter. Director Vikki Stone has plumped for drama over humour which here appears to be something of a misstep. As well as the noticeable plot holes, a bit more light and humour is needed to even out the tone to wash away the soapy feel of the drama.

The narrative delves into some deeply emotional territory and, although there’s the occasional humorous lines in both the songs and dialogue, they didn’t really land. Women are funny, especially in difficult times, and it would have been good to draw more of that out of the writing. We weren’t expecting this restroom to be the musical equivalent of the Sistine (cistern?) Chapel but more chiaro to go with the scurro would have balanced the story considerably. 

Stalled continues at King's Head Theatre until 23 March.

Buy Tickets to Stalled