Taking place at The Pleasance Dome, "It's Gonna Blow!" begins whilst waiting in line, a town crier coming over to us to ask us if we want anything to be brought up in the public forum. Slowly but surely, more characters begin to arrive and interact with us.
It was hilarious and very reminiscent of Monty Python, so I was already in a great mood when I was heading in to take my seat. At the door is a townsperson wearing a very familiar protest orange that warns us that the volcano is going to blow and that we need to band together.
The production doesn't shy away from the fact that, yes, they will be dealing with an ending that is historically accurate, the volcano will blow and we will all die. How cheery.
The play starts out strong. We are introduced to a multiude of characters in the city, the four actors playing numerous characters. It is such a fun and refreshing take to make what is considered to be a tragedy and try to humanise it, watching as the characters come to a public forum to complain about trivial things, like neighbours emptying their bins in to their neighbours bins, etc.
We get a sense that something is being hidden by the mayor of Pompeii, as we do with all political figures, but it's quickly brushed aside as the religious heads and dodgy "scientists" come to calm the masses. With it being a public forum, it's hard for the matter of political corruption to be taken seriously when matters of pub openings and mime nuisance are discussed in the same breath, but this is not meant to be a serious play. The audience is a part of the show from the moment they lined up at the doors, but they become even more involved with audience members being brought on stage multiple times with side-splitting results.
The show, however, takes a bit of a downturn about 25 minutes in. I found a little bit of the spark was lost, and the confinement of the setting suffocated the show. It just started to feel a little repetitive with yet another crazy character coming in to do another crazy thing with another silly pun. It also felt a little confusing when we were asked about three different times to leave only to be told be sat back down, not knowing if we should have left as part of the show or not. I found myself falling out of the reality of the show each time they did it.
The show, however, does pick back up at the end for what I felt was a strong finish!
Overall, I had an enjoyable time, but I feel the show needs to run a little and fix its issues in the middle. The cast are incredibly talented, the script is hilarious; it just needs a little bit of tweaking to make it a great show. I still think you should give this show a go if it intrigues you. I fully take into account that the show I saw was a preview, and if you were to see the show next week, it could be vastly different to what I experienced.
☆☆☆
I think it's a show worth taking a chance on, and if it comes back next year, I would be more than willing to go again and see how it has developed. I wish them the best of luck for their run, but more importantly, I wish for you all to have a fantastic fringe!
Love,
Tony x
No comments:
Post a Comment