Horrible Christmas (Horrible Histories)

Product Information

The show is directed by Birmingham Stage Company’s founder Neal Foster who also plays the role of Dad in the show.

Horrible Histories’ horrible Xmas facts Horrible Histories’ horrible Xmas facts

Sydney Opera House came to see it and a few months later we found ourselves performing the show in their Concert Hall to a sold out house; now the production is touring to Dubai, Bahrain, Hong Kong, Singapore and back to Australia for a tour of the country.Our family have previously enjoyed seeing the Terrible Tudors and the brilliant Barmy Britain series in London’s West End. The story begins on Christmas eve when Wendy (Lydia-May Ashton) takes a sneaky peak at her presents from the under the tree, where she discovers a “boring” book and a much-desired meerkat toy. The secret of the show is that we aim to entertain first and to teach the history under the radar, so the audience doesn’t realise how much they’ve learnt until the end. Inspired by Tommy Cooper, when he used hats and props to create multiple characters, Terry Deary and I wrote four new scenes and Barmy Britain was born! Time travel is depicted with very garish and unpleasant flashing lights which unfortunately washed out the projections at the rear of the stage which counted down the years.

Horrible Christmas – Horrible Histories – Barbican Centre Horrible Christmas – Horrible Histories – Barbican Centre

Regardless of this, my young companions loved the madcap antics performed by an energetic cast who deliver silly jokes and catchy tunes, with lots of audience participation and some interesting historical facts about Christmas. From Victorian villains to Medieval monks, Puritan parties to Tudor treats, join us on an hair-raising adventure through the history of Christmas in the company of Charles Dickens, Oliver Cromwell, King Henry VIII andSt Nicholasas they all join forces to save the festive season! On to King Henry VIII with his wife Katherine Howard some serious feasting and finally to a monk named St Nicholas in 300AD, where it all began in a place named Patara which is now known as Turkey. Plan your journey and find more route information in ‘ Your Visit’ or book your car parking space in advance. This annoyed his mother and brother who met him at a church door and chopped Wenceslas to pieces – he didn’t do a lot of gathering winter fuel after that!For example, our scene involving General Haig and Lord Sugar was checked by the foremost expert in World War I, Professor Gary Sheffield.