There Is No Room in Our Bathroom for Lewis Capaldi, Frances Poet Review

Written by Kathryn for Theatre and Tonic.

Disclaimer: Gifted tickets in return for an honest review. All opinions are our own.

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There Is No Room in our Bathroom for Lewis Capaldi is the newest work from award-winning playwright, Frances Poet, commissioned by PACE Theatre Company and directed by Jenni Mason and Angela Orr.

The Capaldi’s are a football-team sized family. Mum, Dad, and 8 kids all with various pop-star themed names. Home life is a bit chaotic and 17 year old Gwen is in charge of getting her younger siblings up and ready for school each morning; until one day she doesn’t. 13 year old Drake comes home at lunchtime and all the wee ones are still there in their pyjamas eating cereal (and their mum’s expensive chocolates!)

We join the family as they struggle to cope with usually reliable and responsible Gwen’s disappearance. Why did she leave them? Where did she go? And who is going to wrap little Ariana and Billie’s birthday presents?

The cast is led by Dani Heron and Santino Smith as hardworking parents Donna and Gordon, with Amy Gallagher playing Gwen. They were joined by JJ Hay as Gordon’s apprentice Theo - who finds himself responsible for looking after all the kids in Gwen’s absence, and a cast of nine young performers from PACE Youth Theatre - Mya Cooper, Tate Lowther, Martha Ludlow, Jamie-Reece Lyle, Teigan McDonald, Marla McDowell, Alice Orr, Massimo Pignatiello and Lauren Wilkie.

Young people have been at the heart of the production from the start with a number of young actors and writers working with Poet on early development sessions, and I love that 11 young actors are also making their professional debuts in the production. The young cast were truly fantastic and really impressed me with their professionalism, confidence and comic timing.

The script is funny and heartwarming. I laughed out loud often. It’s also full of touching and tender moments that really show the importance of family, friendship and love. There’s even a dance number - and who doesn’t love a good boogie? Set and performed in Paisley, the show has many moments that will appeal to the home audience, but that I hope will also strike chords with people from further afield.

It may only be a short run at the newly refurbished Paisley Arts Centre this time, but There Is No Room in our Bathroom for Lewis Capaldi is deserving of bigger audiences and a wider run. Definitely one to keep an eye out for in the future.

Limited tickets are still available for There Is No Room in our Bathroom for Lewis Capaldi at Paisley Arts Centre until Sunday 15 September. Visit OneRen for tickets.

★ ★ ★ ★