Horrible Histories author Terry Deary comes face to face with a Tudor peasant from Terrible Tudors at the Grand Opera House, York
TERRY Deary, author of the world’s best-selling children’s history series, Horrible Histories, will make a special appearance on stage during March 15’s 11am and 2.30pm performances of Terrible Tudors at the Grand Opera House, York.
The morning show has been added in response to popular demand, to the delight of Birmingham Stage Company founder, manager, director, writer and actor Neal Foster.
“We are thrilled to have the writer and creator of Horrible Histories, Terry Deary himself, appearing in Terrible Tudors,” he says. “Terry started his career as an actor, so we can’t wait for the fun to start when he joins the company for these two special shows.”
Birmingham Stage Company, regular visitors to the Grand Opera House, whether with myriad Horrible Histories shows or stage adaptations of David Walliams’s books, will be back in York from March 13 to 15 to perform both Terrible Tudors and Awful Egyptians.
Billed as “history with the nasty bits left in”, Horrible Histories shows combine multi-role-playing actors with eye-popping Bogglevision 3D special effects that bring historical figures and events to life on stage as they “hover at your fingertips”.
Quick revision course: Terrible Tudors spans the horrible Henries to the end of evil Elizabeth in a show full of legends and lies about the torturing Tudors. Discover the fate of Henry’s headless wives and what happens in his punch-up with the Pope. Meet Bloody Mary and see Ed fall dead in his bed. Survive the Spanish Armada as it sails into the audience.
From the fascinating Pharaohs to the power of the pyramids, Awful Egyptians reveals the foul facts of death and decay with the meanest mummies in Egypt. Are you ready to rumble with Ramesses the Great? Dare you enter through the Gates of the afterlife?
“Terrible Tudors and Vile Victorians were the first Horrible Histories stage adaptations we did, in 2005, and we had never envisaged we’d be celebrating Terrible Tudors’ 20th anniversary,” says Neal. “It’s the longest run of any show we’ve ever had [Foster set up the company in 1992]. It’s been a major part of my life, and I can’t imagine what my life would have been without the Horrible Histories.
“I studied History and Ancient History at A-level, covering Greek and Roman history and mediaeval British and European history – and I absolutely loved it! So, to get the chance to combine my two loves, acting/comedy and history, has been wonderful.”
Terry Deary’s Horrible Histories stories remain the perfect vehicle for Neal. “All this history of homo sapiens is very strange and hasn’t got any better. Never mind the Terrible Tudors, there will now be the Terrible Trumpings,” says Neal.
Neal Foster: Birmingham Stage Company founder, manager, director, writer and actor
“I think we did actually nail it with our first performances, which was a great feeling, gaining the trust of the publishers and of Terry Deary. The reaction of the children was amazing, and though some things change, some things don’t , and kids still love the 3D Bogglevision.
“Bogglevison was pioneering 3D when we started using it and had an amazing impact, but I was worried that films would overtake us when they decided to create 3D worlds with great depth, but it went in and out of fashion again in only three years. With our shows, I’m confident our audiences won’t have experienced anything like we do in the cinema, whether it’s Egyptian mummies reaching out to grab you or Spanish cannonballs being fired at you!”
Twenty years on from Terrible Tudors’ debut, Neal continues to train Birmingham Stage Company actors to “react to what the audience has just seen, where you have to let them calm down before you start again, because the reaction is is so great, and that’s still the case after all these years,” he says.
“I remember The Times doing a two-page spread on it with theatre critic Benedict Nightingale being asked to give his opinion on it and dismissing it as a cheap stunt. Then BBC Radio 4 invited me and Benedict on to discuss it. I said, ‘you haven’t seen it, have you?’, and he had to admit he hadn’t.
“He then came to see the show and he loved it – and we still use his quote where he says ‘it’s the best use of technology in a show’!”
Neal admits to feeling “very jealous”when he sees the lead actor “playing my part, as I still regard it” in Terrible Tudors. “I still want to do it myself, having directed it,” he says. “Like doing shows to 2,000 people at the Manchester Opera House. You’re there, feeling every moment of the show, when it’s, funny, tense, or pure slapstick, and you’re taking the audience on that journey for one hour 45 minutes.
“That’s the difference with cinema. On stage, it can change with each performance. How the audience reacts is what makes it an exciting experience, keeping it alive and fresh, like when we first did it.
“Plus we have updated sequences, one about Elizabeth I, after I read a great new book about Hampton Court [The Palace by Gareth Russell], which addressed a few myths about her.
“We’ve always said her teeth went black and that she went bald, which is why she wore wigs, but one of the ambassadors talked about how her hair went grey, so that’s why she wore wigs, and her teeth went yellow, not black, though many were missing.
“I keep reading history books – I’m always excited when a new Dan Jones book comes out – and they do inspire me by putting a new angle on it, which I’m quick to incorporate in the productions.”
Although Birmingham Stage Company did address the First and Second World Wars in its Barmy Britain shows, Neal has a theory why Terry Deary’s Horrible Histories series is yet to address the 20th century.
“It’s not the subject but the fact that what these shows do is take an anarchic look at history and maybe 20th century history is still too close with parents and grandparents still alive who experienced something horrible, whereas with the Terrible Tudors, the pain has gone,” he says. “For the 20th century, it’s more difficult to give it a Horrible Histories spin.”
Looking ahead to the Saturday performances with Terry Deary, Neal says: “It’s not often that he does it, but every so often he does, if he’s free, and he particularly loves Terrible Tudors as he co-wrote that production.
“I’ve given him quite a lot to do, with a good running joke, so we’ll be getting together to rehearse next Friday and he’ll be doing both the morning show and afternoon show. He’s 79 now but he doesn’t look it!
“The actors [Jack Ballard, Rob Cummings, Megan Parry and Stuart Ash] are very excited because they’ve never met him – and I’ll be doing the shows too as I can’t resist working with Terry when we get the chance.”
Birmingham Stage Company in Horrible Histories: Terrible Tudors, March 13, 10.30am; March 14, 6.30pm; March 15, 11am (extra performance) and 2.30pm. Awful Egyptians, March 13, 6.30pm; March 14, 10.30am; March 15, 6.30pm. Age guidance: Five plus. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
Birmingham Stage Company’s poster for next week’s visit to the Grand Opera House, York