An Edinburgh Fringe show set in a gender neutral public toilet might not seem like the most obvious premise, but it has become one of the hottest tickets.

It had taken Kyla Stroud several years to establish herself as a singer-songwriter when the pandemic changed her perspective.

After lockdown, Kyla “fell out of love with the music industry” and suffered from a mental health crisis.

I was trying to find some joy in life, and asked myself, ‘When was the last time I was happy? When I was doing amateur dramatics as a teenager. Maybe I should try writing a musical.’

As I knew it would have to be a simple concept, I asked myself, “What interests me right now?”

Lockdown had physically separated everyone – and many people emerged more psychologically splintered after it ended – so Kyla decided the musical would bring strangers together.

Find a way to make people who shouldn’t connect, or don’t want to connect… let’s make them connect, and find their similarities, and find their compassion.”

Additionally, Kyla, who uses they/them pronouns, became increasingly involved in discussions about gender identity.

A new musical was born, So Public – The Musical. It follows four fictional strangers trapped in a gender neutral public restroom, with varying outlooks, predicaments, and pronouns.

Zo (played by Annabel Marlow) is a privileged Gen-Z activist who’s leading an anti-pesticide protest – Operation Pollination for the Nation.

The main character, Laura (Alicia Corales), is non-binary and non-confrontational, and has just discovered that their girlfriend has been unfaithful to them.

Finlay (Hugo Rolland), a gay man, suffers from crippling anxiety and has an appointment to stop his Universal Credit from being cut off.

Kyla is close to him – he has a panic disorder and was on Universal Credit during the pandemic. “Their paths were very closely intertwined.”

In addition, Andrew (Andrew Patrick-Walker) is a middle-aged financial worker and cycling enthusiast who is confused when asked for his pronouns. “I’m just a guy.”