Review: Horrible Histories: Barmy Britain – The Best Bits, Apollo Theatre

It is certainly ‘barmy season’, as the annual onslaught of family entertainment for the summer holidays pops up across the West End. Horrible Histories: Barmy Britain – the Best Bits is one of this offering, jostling with, among others, The Baddies, Tiger Who Came to Tea, Smeds and Smoos. Sorry if I have missed any, but I wanted to give readers a list of other pieces that they may want to spend their money on, ‘cause this show is not cheap at between £19 & £37 a ticket, which is, if you buy a top price ticket, about 52p a minute. And while we are talking cash, don’t forget all the trappings you may want to indulge in at the Apollo Theatre, like a glossy programme at £6 a throw, and chocolates, and fizzy drinks, and and and..… yikes, the bill keeps rising!

I mention this consumer frenzy because I can’t remember seeing a show in recent years where the action of the play is interrupted to promote one of the actors’ unrelated published books – it’s called Cruise Ship Kid: Thief at Sea, by the way – or we are reminded to now go and make your way to Tower Bridge Quay and book onto the franchise’s Terrible Thames river tour. I am sure they will be great, but… can we focus on the play we are here to see?!

I think maybe the word ‘play’ is perhaps a bit of a red herring, as this is basically a well-made, cleverly structured piece of entertainment, which rattles through UK history with plenty of gore, spade-loads of poo (literally) in panto-esque style, and pastiches of everything from Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, to Postman Pat, to The Only Way is Essex. We even get a passing comment about the Women’s football Euro win and Liz Truss, crikey…. Having said that, there is a Suarez joke that’s a gem and worth listening out for – I can’t say anything else or I’ll spoil it for you…

Songs are sung, and we are encouraged to join in, including a very informative one about why some place names are similar. This is, of course, the point of Horrible History pieces, and if this is your bag, great! You can learn a lot, and some of the children around me, and parents too, were fully into it all. 

Performers Emma Swan & Neal Foster (who also writes and directs) work their socks off to tell their stories, using a mishmash of bits and pieces, cloaks, hats and so on, taken from coat racks, wicker baskets – it all has a sort of backstage costume and prop room feel (courtesy of designer Jacqueline Trousdale). They multi-role, change costumes with overwhelming frequency, sing with gusto, and sort of dance (was that really traditional Morris dancing at the start of the piece? I am not 100% sure). They keep going for 70 minutes. It is frankly exhausting, but the crowd love it. For me, among this mayhem, the King John humanette puppet was a highlight – a little more thought like that would have been welcomed. 

Horrible Histories: Barmy Britain – the Best Bits does exactly what it says it will on the tin. I learned things that I didn’t know before about various figures and periods in history. And if it continues to get children into history, asking questions and unpacking concepts like heroes, historic icons, and what makes a villain, then great. This is a successful model. Barmy Britain is one of many variations on a theme that tour theatres across the UK all year round. As we were asked in the opening moments, ‘Who wants to hear about poo and death?’, that is exactly what we paid for, and what we got.

Written by Neal Foster & Terry Deary
Directed by Neal Foster
Designed by Jacqueline Trousdale
Lighting Design by Jason Taylor
Music by Matthew Scott
Sound by Nick Sagar
Choreographer by Kenn Oldfield

Horrible Histories: Barmy Britain – The Best Bits is recommended for ages 5-10 years
and runs at The Apollo Theatre until Sunday 31 August