Lovestuck: a 'warm-hearted' musical with a 'powerhouse score'

"Readers of a sensitive disposition" might want to look away now, said Clive Davis in The Times, because it is not possible to describe this new musical at Stratford East without "wading through a vast expanse of very British toilet humour".

Created by the team behind the hit comedy podcast "My Dad Wrote a Porno", "Lovestuck" is based on a story – which went viral online in 2017 – about a young woman who produced an unflushable poo while on a first date. Her solution to this embarrassment was to wrap it up and throw it out of her date's bathroom window. Alas, it became wedged between two panes of glass, and she then became stuck upside down as she tried to retrieve it.

"There's a hell of a lot of poo chat, but if you can get on board the toilet train, you're sure to leave laughing," said Anya Ryan in The Guardian. "Lovestuck" is funny and sweet, and boasts a "powerhouse score" in which "every number is a hit".

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"I confidently predict a big future for this warm-hearted piece," agreed Fiona Mountford in The i Paper. Ambra Caserotti, drafted in at the last minute after the original lead was injured, delivered a terrifically polished press-night performance as the nerdy, self-critical Lucy. And Shane O'Riordan, who plays her equally nerdy date Peter, "possesses a nervy, self-deprecating charisma that makes you root for this bumbling charmer", said Alun Hood on WhatsOnStage. Both convey the "rapture" of making a romantic connection, and the "gut-wrenching insecurities" that come with it. There are some great secondary characters; the songs are witty as well as catchy; and the script "unerringly finds the middle ground between snarl and sweetness".

Well, I'm afraid I couldn't get on board, said Nick Curtis in The London Standard. I like a "scatalogical gag" as much as the next person, but the characterisation here feels "toilet-paper thin". Still, "honesty compels me to say that I was humming the closing number, 'Everybody's Got Their Shit', on the long cycle ride home".

Theatre Royal Stratford East, London E15. Until 12 July