Review: There’s a Pigeon in My Bathroom, Lion & Unicorn Theatre

It’s certainly a title that tells you everything you need to know. The opening scene finds Katie (Edie Murphy) discovering that titular pigeon in the bathroom of the house she shares with three friends. Her scream of panic brings them running, setting us up for an hour of chaos.  

They argue over how to get rid of the pigeon, first alive and later dead. And whilst all this is taking place, there is the expected interplay between four very differing characters. Katie is the sensible one, Emma (Abigail Wasdall) is the nice but dim one, Hugo (Max Jordan) is the gung-ho meat-headed one, and Ben (writer Patrick Euan Large) is the sensitive one. 

All four give it everything; it’s hard to fault as they do a valiant effort to flesh out rather one-dimensional characters. The commitment is great, and you feel that with a stronger script they could do much more. The issue really is that they just aren’t given enough to work with. The housemates set-up lends itself to classic sitcom farce. But while there are moments when it threatens to explode into life, it seems scared to fully commit, instead tiptoeing around ideas. It’s as if it wants to be a little of everything but is left floundering in-between, which is a shame because I kept going back to one thought: the opening idea really has wings. 

It’s telling that There’s a Pigeon in my Bathroom comes from a ten-minute scratch show. There are glimpses of what that short version had to offer, enough sparks of promise to see why the team behind this version decided to work on a full-length version. The problem is that, in fleshing it out, it now feels incomplete. It is as if the expansion was rushed without time to really build up the additional ideas required. It’s all very frustrating, as clearly Large can write a good comedy. The moments of self-depreciation are great; a reference to it being like a scene from a film but who would watch, followed by a stare out at the audience, is superbly executed. Equally amusing is the pigeon funeral, which provides the best individual moments of silliness. 

But elsewhere the writing lets itself down. The will-they-won’t-they love interests are just not strong enough, especially one between Ben and Emma, which is literally dropped in (pointlessly) towards the end without anything suggesting this was even a thing happening earlier. Then there is the threat of an RSPCA visit to search for the pigeon, but it’s an idea that is introduced and then cleanly forgotten. One wonders if this was just another effort to introduce some chaos without quite knowing how to fully utilise it. 

The set is equally as frustrating. A white door sits centre stage, behind which we know is the bathroom where said pigeon is trapped. It’s a brilliant focal point to build around but, once again, this is not fully committed to, and all a little too wobbly. The door has nothing else around it to place us in the home, so instead we are left with four actors performing in a large blank space floundering for placement. 

Frustration is the key feeling come the end of the show. It’s a great idea with enough individual moments to suggest that there is a great farce to be had here. It just really needs to be better developed before it can reach the promised heights suggested.

Written & Directed by Patrick Euan Large
Produced by Liam Alexandru for Perro Loco

There’s a Pigeon in My Bathroom has completed its performances at the Lion & Unicorn Theatre