Horrible Histories: Barmy Britain
Potholes, Partygate, Brexit and Truss – can Britain get any barmier? Yes, if you take the historical long view. In the mindset of the Dark Ages what could be barmier than a woman leading Saxons into battle? Yet such was Queen Æthelflæd , the Lady of Mercia who bravely fought the Vikings and turned gender history on its head. Her defence of Tamworth elicited a comparison with the defeat of Rishi at the recent byelection in the town. If none of this sounds funny – think again. History can be hilarious.
The Saxon lady was the opening story of the show taking our nation’s history from the 10th to the 21st century in 80 minutes. Performed with audacious knockabout energy by writer Neal Foster and Ian Archdeacon (Alasdair Buchan sharing his role on other nights), this was a whistlestop tour of some of the stranger or at least child-entertaining gobbets of British history.
The two actors inhabit an astonishing array of character voices and accents including comic French turns as Duke William and his Normans, thigh-slapping Hanoverians singing a funny oompah-pah song ‘Hanover Handover’ and a pair of overreached Scots failing to expand their empire in Panama. Malaria and failed trade brought their tropical empire ventures to a hot sticky end and on stage a comical dying skirl of rapidly deflating bagpipes. Even failed imperial adventures can be funny – if you wait for several centuries.
Of course, no British history, horrible or otherwise, is complete without Henry VIII and Elizabeth I. The latter monarch’s long reign summed up in the fateful Earl of Oxford who on bowing before his sovereign let out a noisy blast from his rear end. Kids of all ages of course love fart jokes and inevitably ‘we know a song about that don’t we?’ Panto was strongly in the air as the audience was urged to cheer or boo (plenty to boo about in this history).
After a very fun 60 minutes of the show, it seemed like comical ideas were starting to run a bit thin in the later scenes. Queen Victoria’s long reign was summed up in the curious incident of the man who broke into the palace and stole her knickers (a laugh-out loud word for the little ones in the stalls). We then jumped to the more recent palatial break-in by Michael Fagin (our late queen making a quick drag appearance) and some nonsense about a witch in the Second World War. Twitchy children in the audience suggested that perhaps the last bit of what is otherwise a very entertaining romp should be given a blue pencil going over.
That said, Barmy Britain has got a lot to cheer about. Our two actors make the most of quick-change repartee, the songs are funny and singalongable. There is a plenty of barmy banter and antique antics. We all loved too the entertaining TV take offs: a great impression of Alan Sugar whose task for his 15th century apprentice was to deliver a new king not called ‘Henry’. A Jeremy Clarkson figure stands in for Henry I who fronts a show called ‘Top Sail’ and a breakfast show host called ‘Jeremy Vile’ who referees a fight between George II and his abusive father.
If you forgive the barmy choices of history highlights, then this show provides a cavalcade of laughs for all the family. By the way, the printed programme is well worth the money – full of puzzles and history-based activities. Horrible Histories have marched backwards to the Arts to provide half termers with a gaggle of giggles. You’d be barmy to miss it.
https://www.cambridgeartstheatre.com/whats-on/horrible-histories-barmy-britain
