Horrible Histories -
Barmy Britain
Whitley Bay Playhouse
Until Sunday 18th
June 2017
On a fabulously hot day,
the Whitley Bay venue was the host to a classic family friendly show. Mixing
elements of pantomime and the traditional end-of-the-pier summer special with
history the theatre was filled with the sound of young people laughing and
singing.
Horrible Histories is a popular series of illustrated history books published in the United Kingdom by Scholastic which were
designed to bring history to life for children by presenting the unusual, gory,
or unpleasant aspects in a tongue-in-cheek manner in contrast to what is taught
in school. The series, written by Terry Deary, has proved exceptionally
successful as led to an equally successful award-winning TV series which is
still being shown regularly today. Thus the concept is well known and that will
explain the packed house at the Playhouse.
We
have seen a number of Birmingham Stage productions including Gangsta Granny and
other Horrible Histories. This particular production involves Laura Dalgleish
and Neal Foster plus a mountain of costumes ready for a quick change. The two
handed show starts with the Roman invasion and runs through to Victorian
Britain via Tudors, plague, highwaymen, grave robbers and the gunpowder plot
via a number of other tales. We have communal singing, jokes for the kids,
jokes for the adults and jokes for everyone. There are even a couple of
references to tv show formats.
Some
family shows make the mistake of isolating the action from the audience but
that is not a problem here. The actors are demanding interaction with the
audience from the get-go.
The
shows are entertaining, especially for the Key Stage 2 child, though there’s
plenty for both the older and younger child and their parents too. Laura and Neal work hard to keep the pace up
and to keep the children involved. The regular change of period tale and
resultant costume is a challenge for them both and they successfully entertain
the keen young Horrible History fans.
Horrible
Histories has done a great job in making history popular. This entertaining
show keeps to the fun and gory facts that kids love and was a nice way to spend
80 minutes on a Saturday afternoon.
Review
by Stephen
Oliver
Tickets
Tickets costing £14, £12 conc., £48 Family Ticket (2 adults and 2
children) are available now.
Tickets are available from the Box Office open Monday – Friday 10am – 4pm, Saturday 10.30am – 2.30pm plus until show start on event days. Tickets can also be purchased on the booking hotline 0844 248 1588* or online at www.playhousewhitleybay.co.uk.
*Calls cost 7p per minute plus your phone company’s access charge.
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