It's Gonna Blow!

Tuesday 5th August - 13.00

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

A couple of years ago we saw Fishing for Chips excellent, immersive historical play, Burning Down The Horse, so on scanning through shows to see this year we were pleased to see that they were returning with another historical piece, this time centering on the last hours of Pompeii before the eruption of Vesuvius. The interactivity begins in the queue as co-writer Sean Wareing, here in his role as the town crier (one of many parts he plays) is up and down the line asking if we’ve got anything that we would like raised at the town meeting.

Once inside and seated we are treated to a rousing performance of the Pompeii Town anthem and after that we are away.  The cast of four, Wareing, along with co-writer Freddie Walker plus Elinor Soliman and Yasmine Meaden are all excellent and bring a frantic energy to a huge cast of characters, from the mayor right down through society to the 'goblins' and peasants.  They are assisted by various members of the audience, today all seemingly called David(us), as Pompeii prepares itself for/seemingly ignores the impending peril of the rumbling mountain and the ash falling from the sky.

The use of the space at Queen Dome lends itself perfectly to the town meeting centre and with multiple side entrances the cast appear from all angles, sometimes seconds after disappearing from a different entrance as a different character, there is clearly as much going on backstage as there is in front of us so credit must also go to young director Lara Lawman and the technical team as well as the cast.

In the previous review we gave Fishing for Chips, I paid them the ultimate compliment of a comparison with Mischief Theatre and in It’s Gonna Blow it’s difficult not to do this again.  The writing, direction and performance are all of a similarly high standard to The Play That Goes Wrong when we first saw it at the Fringe over a decade ago, and at this rate Fishing For Chips could head the same way.

It is genuine fun for all of the family, works on many different levels and will have you laughing from start to finish, go and see them before they outgrow the Fringe. (CB)

It's Gonna Blow is performing daily (not 12th) at QueenDome at Pleasance Dome until August 24th - details here