The clue to the success of Horrible Histories on television is in the title.
Children will always love guts and gore far more than a well-turned info-graphic on the English Civil War, for example, and a TV studio full of offal can do that brilliantly in a day’s albeit smelly filming.
On stage the whole thing is a lot less horrible (you can’t tour with offal) and relies heavily on pantomime and wordplay that felt a bit two dimensional and largely falls flat on the young audience. As do direct appeals to them from the stage in shrill “Now then boys and girls” tones.
We’re all used to our Horrible Histories being a lot more sophisticated.
A 3D Viking attack in the second half hits the spot, with spears landing amongst the massed eight year-olds to screams of terror and delight.
The take-home message may get forgotten among the target audience (a phrase I use advisedly) but is one that fits the EU debate nicely.
“We’re British, we’re British, and we now know what it means. The people who invaded us are now in our genes.”
Three stars
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