‘Oh good I like the Black Death!’ whispered my young companion as the super-talented quartet introduced this section of their whistle-stop journey through Britain’s odd history.
This worked particularly well as it involved the familiar pantomime device of dragging up a young audience member. Young Adam was certainly game for a laugh – the butt of jokes around the weird and wonderful ‘cures’ tried by our ancestors to combat this devastating plague.
One such cure, we learn, included shaving the bottom feathers of a chicken and placing it on the pustule. It was one of the many laugh-out-loud moments in the show. Birmingham Stage Company has been touring Horrible Histories for many years and the series is still immensely popular – thanks to the wonderful team of players Alison Fitzjohn, Benedict Martin, Laura Dalgleish and Gary Wilson.
They sing, they dance, they gurn with tireless energy, in tune with their young audiences – but also have enough jokes for adults too.
The first act highlight was by far the tale of Henry VIII transformed from the majestic king to a whining, spoilt schoolboy that included the line ‘I told the Pope to bog off’. (That got the adults wincing!) In the second act the show made the most of new technology, giving us a really effective 3D experience – clever.
I would question some of the cultural references – Take Me Out/Undercover Boss might go over the heads of some of the younger audience members – and the First World War groupings to show the two sides did not work so well.
But those are minor niggles because this small but delighted half-term audience joined in the fun with gusto. The sound, music and lighting team were brilliant – the unsung heroes of director Neal Foster’s great show – while the talents of designer Jacqueline Trousdale should also be applauded.
Horrible Histories Barmy Britain continues its national tour. See www.barmybritain.com/tour for details.
