Lovestuck - Review

Review by Alice

Tickets were gifted in return for an honest review.

Worst. Date. Ever. Lovestuck. A new comedy musical inspired by true events. Written by James Cooper, directed by Jamie Morton and music by Bryn Christopher with Martin Batchelar.

Shane O'Riordan (Peter), Jessica Boshier (Lucy) and cast. Photo by Mark Senior. 

Lovestuck is a play that the blurb says tackles themes like online dating, social media, the toxicity of social media, self doubt...

In some ways as a musical it echoes a little like 'I Love You, You're Perfect. Now Change!' Except 'I Love You' deals with issues of love by following multiple characters, which allows for the oddity of the show to work.

Here, we follow Lucy and Peter. Lucy is stuck hanging upside down out of Peter's bathroom window after a date, and then we circular narrative back to where they met, and what leads them both to this moment.

As you enter the auditorium, you are met with a dynamic set. Bold, smart, and stands out brilliantly. It has a feeling of a Pixar film, with it's brightness, and colour themes of mostly purple and yellow. Windows shout out cleverly throughout Lovestuck, namely the big heart sign you see made up from many a window.

A giant window literally frames the stage with a giant latch. A great touch. I love attention to detail! With plenty of set changes something could have easily have gone wrong, but not here. The cast work very well to make every scene smooth and slick, keeping the pace of the show up.

The costumes were perfectly fine, although a few did look a little cheap and stood out for the wrong reasons. They didn't offend or pull focus from the show as a whole once I had accepted them, however.

Callum Connolly, Ambra Caserotti, Bridgette Amofah (Cassandra), Holly Liburd and Johan Munir (David). Photo by Mark Senior.

Being an original musical, the big question is; "Are the songs any good?" The answer for me was, at times...yes. The opening song sadly wasn't strong enough to draw me in, especially after waiting close to 15 minutes for the show to start. I hate lateness. 'Underneath' was a fun song, and the title track 'Lovestuck' was also very strong. 'Basically Basic' was a pleasant number, but in the main, the songs fell out of my head very quickly. Act two had 'All Along' which was a nice song and sung very well, but I kept waiting for Lucy to start singing 'How Far I Go' from Moana... At times the songs had great tempo changes and nice harmonies interwoven, but I just can't say I loved them.

The show is directed by Jamie Morton who pulls the show together well. Plenty going on but never feeling rushed. I think the big problem, which may be the play itself rather than the direction, or maybe both(?), is that the show is just a bit messy. It's just not clever enough, and to be that puerile - you need to be. 

It feels like it wants to be a parody, 'The Play That Goes Wrong' esque, almost needing a sideways look to the audience to let us know everyone is aware that the moment is totally ridiculous, but it doesn't. It takes itself far too seriously for a silly bit of fun.

Lucy having an imaginary friend almost leading through parts of the show, or other roommates who are such caricatures didn't work for me. When Lucy talks about self doubt it comes from nowhere, shoehorned to tick a box and therefore lacks any impact.

The cast lead by Ambra Caserotti as Lucy and Shane O' Riordan as Peter were very good. I really can't say enough how great these two leads were, pulling everything they had into the roles. Wonderful singing and so personable you liked them straight away. For fans of Gavin and Stacey, you'll have the joy of Alison Steadman as the show Narrator.

The ensemble in the main were very good, but as mentioned above, the outlandish characters felt like something from the Fast Show, rather than a show trying to explore self doubt, toxic social media, love...there was also one member of the ensemble that clearly didn't know the final dance routine well enough, and at times chose not to sing. It was unfortunately very noticeable and a real moment spoiler. 

Jessica Boshier (Lucy). Photo by Mark Senior.

I really wanted to like this show, I love new writing. To see a new musical and be one of the first to experience it is wonderful. But I think a show based on an infamous social media meme just didn't have enough energy to make it more than just a one trick pony!

Let me finish on a positive. The writing at times was genuinely very funny. The date scene between Peter and Lucy in particular. I know for many this review will not hold true as for many they will really enjoy Lovestuck, but unfortunately it just wasn't for me.

⭐️⭐️.5

Lovestuck plays at Stratford East Theatre until Saturday 12th July 2025. Tickets are available from https://stratfordeast.com/whats-on/all-shows/lovestuck/1725