Horrible Histories has a lot to answer for. The hit historical educational comedy show makes laughing at history look easy, even though it’s not. Comedy is hard to write, and educational comedy is even harder to do.

It’s Gonna Blow! is a comedy show about Pompeii, which also doubles as a rather ham-fisted narrative about the climate crisis. The setup is that we, the audience, are all gathered at the town hall to talk about how the sky has suddenly gotten a bit darker than usual and how angry the local mountain seems to be.

Various characters have various complaints, and slowly but surely, a tale of wilful ignorance and lust for power is unveiled. The heroes of the story may well be the protestors (who are convinced something bad is about to happen), though really, this is a stark warning about the current state of the world. But with lots of jokes and some excellent comic timing. There isn’t a single memorable character, but the story is still pretty strong.

Four actors (and a lot of quick changes) tell us the tale of a town that knows that the end is coming, but thanks to misinformation and greed from leadership, as well as general stupidity from the population, it all goes horribly wrong. There is some audience participation as folk are roped in to try and help various characters resolve their issues, and though this adds little to the show, it is quite fun.

It’s not the most tightly put together show, and there’s perhaps too much going on (and it needs more gags), but it’s well worth checking out.

You can book tickets for the Edinburgh Fringe show here and learn more about the artist here.