Earth has decided it’s been too long and she needs to get back into the game: her last great love affair was destroyed by a meteorite. Cue Hu(manity) who sidles into her sights, all geeky glasses, canvas satchel and self-effacing charm. Initially irritated by his wearisome wheat obsession, as in all good rom-coms, a bit of a squabble precipitates a careless kiss and a lengthy love affair begins.

Written and directed by Ellie Coote with music and lyrics by Jack Godfrey, ‘Hot Mess’ is a fast, funny megamix of two millennia of human evolution, hurtling from Hu’s frustration that the rain is ruining his wheat crops to Earth’s winsome suggestion that he could go further, faster, with coal through to the air-polluted, traffic-jammed, plastic-infused world as we know it. Following their sorry realisation that this particular genie can’t be squashed back into the bottle, the final song is a wry flash forward to a future where Hu is hanging out in the bowels of an inhospitable planet while Earth enjoys a polyamorous relationship with the only options left ‘alive’.

Both script and songs are super-smart, laugh-out-loud funny and simultaneously shine an unforgiving light onto the ruination wreaked on the world by our apparently insatiable greed. Coote and Godfrey circle uncomfortable truths but somehow, this musical never lectures, never hectors, doesn’t even chastise: it simply lays out the evidence with so many spade loads of charm and frothy fun that it’s hard to argue with.

Danielle Steers is a majestic Earth, touchingly vulnerable and defiantly omnipotent with gloriously strong vocals. Tobias Turley achieves an eerily convincing arc from sweet, soulful boy in love to power/progress hungry protagonist in a world that was never his to start with. He’s a more than adequate match for Steers’ vocal riches and their harmonies are gorgeous. The choreography (Alexzandra Sarmiento) is snappy. The set (Shankho Chaudhuri) and the six stagehands needed to strip it, are a Fringe miracle. Sit as close to the front as you can to reap full enjoyment from the book covers.

‘Hot Mess’ is currently sold out for the rest of the run but keep your eyes peeled as the Pleasance sometimes schedule additional performances of popular shows – assuming the stagehands are up for it.

‘Hot Mess‘ is at Pleasance Courtyard – Pleasance Two until Mon 25 Aug 2025 at 15:10