Book: Mark Childers
Music & Lyrics: Seth Bisen-Hersh
Director: Cecilie Fray
Reviewer: Christine Stanton
“Strong Voices, Weak Storyline“
3 / 5
Love Quirks focuses on a group of four flatmates, who are navigating love, relationships, break-ups and make-ups, all while juggling their day-to-day lives. It’s a perfectly pleasant musical, with some very talented vocals, but the bland storyline, means it’s not very ground-breaking or memorable enough to really engage.
Ryan (Lewis Bear Brown) is in the throes of a new relationship, excitedly packing up and moving in with his new boyfriend, despite only knowing him for a few weeks. Stephanie (Clodagh Greene) is finalising her divorce and getting some very questionable advice on how to repair her broken heart from her therapist. Chris (Tom Newland) is also newly single, though is more concerned about getting the engagement ring back than missing his ex. Lili (Ayesha Patel) has been in love with Ryan since before he came out, and has never fully come to terms with it, burying herself in her Gender Studies classes to take her mind off of her singledom. Not a great track record between the group, but they have their friendship, at least for now…
Relationships are a well-trodden subject in theatre, and although Love Quirks does have some humorous moments and enjoyable songs, there just isn’t enough material to pad out the two hour runtime. Jumping straight into the story, we don’t really have much time to get to know the characters before they leap into their respective narrative arcs. The group are in somewhat of a love square, with Ryan crushing on Chris, Chris and Stephanie having a fling resulting in a ghosting in college, and Lili and Ryan’s unresolved past all becoming a factor in their individual stories. Although this should add somewhat to some form of conflict, the narrative always stays quite level, with no real drama, despite the tangled nature of their history. Although it’s nice not having a heavy plot, allowing the audience to switch off slightly to watch an easily-digestible show, it does mean that there is a bit of spark missing, which becomes more prevalent the longer the production goes on. Quite a few of the lines in the script are shouted rather than said, which doesn’t make them any more dramatic, just rather annoying!
The cast all have wonderful vocals, and are very clearly extremely musically talented. Their big voices fill the small room with ease, and the songs do help to carry the loose plot along in both acts. A light-hearted, easy to watch contemporary musical.
Runs until 12th October 2025
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