Horrible Histories Archives - charleshutchpress

March 6, 2025March 6, 2025

Horrible Histories author Terry Deary treads Grand Opera House boards in Birmingham Stage Company’s Terrible Tudors

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”.

History makers: Birmingham Stage Company in Terrible Tudors. Picture: Mark Douet

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’ 20^th 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’!”

Birmingham Stage Company in Awful Egyptians, bound for the Grand Opera House, York, next week. Picture: Mark Douet

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 20^th century.

“It’s not the subject but the fact that what these shows do is take an anarchic look at history and maybe 20^th 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 20^th 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

September 26, 2024September 26, 2024

‘She’s not just wicked but very funny too’, says Neal Foster as he plays Aunt Alberta in Birmingham Stage Company’s Awful Auntie

*Annie Cordoni’s Stella and Neal Foster’s Aunt Alberta in Birmingham Stage Company’s Awful Auntie. Picture: Mark Douet*

AFTER directing Gangsta Granny, Billionaire Boy and Demon Dentist, Neal Foster is at the helm of his fourth David Walliams stage adaptation and playing the lead too for the first time in Awful Auntie.

As with the previous three children’s plays, and indeed myriad Horrible Histories shows too,
Birmingham Stage Company is heading for York, playing the Grand Opera House from today (26/9/2024) to Sunday.

“It’s been ten years since we started working with David, and we’ve done four of his books now,” says Neal, long-standing actor-manager, director and writer/adaptor for the Birmingham company.

“He’s been a brilliant person to work with, so generous, so interested; he’ll do anything to help; he’s there at rehearsals, he’s there on opening night. He looks at my scripts with a really helpful professional colleague’s eye, and it’s been a wonderful ten years.”

Neal continues: “I think he has always appreciated how we capture the tone of his work and how we understand how comedy works on stage. I’ll send him drafts and he’ll send notes. I think it works because I get his humour and I knew it would work on stage from the moment I read the books.”

“We’re both fans of Roald Dahl and heavily influenced by him, and Birmingham Stage Company has done more Dahl shows than any other companies in the world.”

*Awful Auntie novelist David Walliams. Picture: Charlie Clift*

One David Walliams story had been adapted by another company before the Birmingham bond was forged. “He had not been entirely happy with that show and thought maybe it was not the right road to go down again. When we approached him, he liked our track record with the Horrible Histories shows, and that gave him the confidence to run with us.

“Gangsta Granny was then so successful that David was happy to put his books in our hands and has been delighted with the work we’ve done. The stories are very funny, he has a fantastic, wicked sense of humour, but there’s always something important going on in the stories too. It’s no surprise that you will see adults with tears in their eyes at the end because he writes in that way.

“That’s one of the reasons I wanted to do them, and why they work so well on stage is that David is a performer too and so the stories are naturally theatrical.”

Awful Auntie sends Stella to London with her parents, but she has no idea her life is in danger. When she wakes up three months later, only her Aunt Alberta (Foster’s role) can tell her what has happened, but not everything Alberta says turns out to be true, whereupon Stella discovers she is infor the fight of her life against her very own awful Auntie.

Neal is savouring playing Aunt Alberta. “I’ve been doing it since March,” he says. “One of the first shows I did with Birmingham Stage Company was Roald Dahl’s George’s Marvellous Medicine, where I played Grandma, one of my favourite parts, and there’s a resonance with that role in Alberta because she too loves being wicked and naughty.

“In the end, Grandma was just rather nasty, but in this one, Alberta turns out to be a serial killer, probably psychopathic, but what makes it so wonderful is that she’s not just wicked but very funny too.

*Neal Foster: Birmingham Stage Company actor-manager, director and adaptor, now playing Aunt Alberta in Awful Auntie, on tour at Grand Opera House, York*

“It’s a great privilege to play one of David’s leads, having adapted and directed the previous shows. It’s been a great joy to play a part this time, knowing I could do it, and though it would be hard to pull it off, I knew it would lend itself to being played by a man, applying the strength of a man, because Alberta is quite brutal.”

Neal “loves the science of comedy in making it work”. “David’s tone is like Chekhov’s comedies: it makes audiences laugh and cry, where you feel sad at some parts, laughing at the characters but at the same time sympathising with them,” he says.

“Here Aunt Alberta is very funny but menacing. She’s entertaining; she’s dangerous, but she’s NOT terrifying. Menacing, yes, but at the same time David is providing children with an adventure.”

That is the key to Birmingham Stage Company welcoming children as young as five to Awful Auntie. “With all those wicked characters in Roald Dahl’s work, for example, we wouldn’t give them thatlabel, but they probably are psychopathic,” he says.

“When you’re playing Alberta, you realise she doesn’t seem to care and is lethal in what she does, having her psychopathic responses, but it’s not something young audiences need to know, whereas as an actor you’re aware that she’s basically an absolute nutter!”

Birmingham Stage Company in David Walliams’s Awful Auntie, Grand Opera House, York, today, 6.30pm; Friday, 10.30am and 6.30pm; Saturday, 2.30pm and 6.30pm; Sunday, 11am. Age guidance: Five upwards. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

Copyright of The Press, York

January 1, 2022September 4, 2023

More Things To Do in York and beyond in 2022 as the icing man cometh. List of ingredients No. 63, courtesy of The Press

*Car Park Panto’s cast dishes up a Horrible Christmas to Sunday’s drive-in audience at Elvington Airfield*

AS U2 once sang, all is quiet on New Year’s Day, but Charles Hutchinson has his diary out to note down events for the months ahead.

Drive-in pantomime: Car Park Panto’s Horrible Christmas, Elvington Airfield, near York, tomorrow (Sunday,) 11am, 2pm and 5pm

BIRMINGHAM Stage Company’s Horrible Histories franchise teams up with Coalition Presents for Car Park Panto’s Horrible Christmas.

In writer-director Neal Foster’s adaptation of Terry Deary’s story, when Christmas comes under threat from a jolly man dressed in red, one young boy must save the day as a cast of eight sets off on a hair-raising adventure through the history of Christmas.

At this Covid-secure experience, children and adults can jump up and down in their car seats and make as much noise as they like, tuning in to the live show on stage and screen. Box office: carparkparty.com.

*Shaparak Khorsandi: Revisiting her 1900s’ experiences in It Was The 90s! at Selby Town Hall*

Looking back, but not nostalgically: Shaparak Khorsandi, It Was The 90s!, Selby Town Hall, January 22, 8pm

SHAPARAK Khorsandi, the Iranian-born British stand-up comedian and author formerly known as Shappi, tackles the celebrated but maligned 1990s in her new show, It Was The 90s!.

Back then, she flew around London with hope in her heart, a tenner in her pocket and spare knickers in her handbag. “But how does the decade of binge drinking and walks of shame look now without snakebite and black-tinted specs?” asks Shaparak, 48.

“This is a show about how we ’90s kids are looking to young people to learn how to take care of ourselves, because if you survived the car crash of being a ’90s kid, then surely Things Can Only Get Better.” Box office: 01757 708449 or selbytownhall.co.uk.

*Round The Horne as re-created by Apollo Stage Company at the Grand Opera House, York*

Looking back, nostalgically: Round The Horne, Grand Opera House, York, January 27, 7.30pm

FROM the producers of The Goon Show and Hancock’s Half Hour tours comes another radio comedy classic, re-created live on stage by Apollo Stage Company.

Compiled and directed by Tim Astley from Barry Took and Marty Feldman’s scripts, this meticulous show takes a step back in time to the BBC’s Paris studios to re-play the recordings of the Sunday afternoon broadcasts of Kenneth Horne and his merry crew in mischievous mood.

Expect wordplay, camp caricatures and risqué innuendos, film spoofs and such favourite characters as Rambling Sid Rumpo, Charles and Fiona, J. Peasemold Gruntfuttock and Julia and Sandy. Box office: atgtickets.com/York.

*Kipps, The New Half A Sixpence Musical: Making its York debut at the Joseph Rowntree Theatre in February*

Heart or head choice: Joseph Rowntree Theatre Company in Kipps, The New Half A Sixpence Musical, Joseph Rowntree Theatre Company, York, February 9 to 12, 7.30pm and 2.30pm Saturday matinee

IN the coastal town of Folkestone, Arthur Kipps knows there is more to life than his demanding but unrewarding job as an apprentice draper.

When he suddenly inherits a fortune, Kipps is thrown into a world of upper-class soirées and strict rules of etiquette that he barely understands. Torn between the affections of the kind but proper Helen and childhood sweetheart Ann, Kipps must determine whether such a simple soul can find a place in high society.

Tickets for this fundraising show for the JoRo are on sale on 01904 501935 or at josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.

*Giovanni Pernice: This is him in This Is Me after his Strictly Come Dancing triumph*

Strictly winner comes dancing: Giovanni Pernice: This Is Me, York Barbican, March 9, 7.30pm

GLITTER ball still gleaming, Giovanni Pernice will take to the road on his rescheduled tour after winning Strictly Come Dancing as the professional partner to ground-breaking deaf EastEnders actress Rose Ayling-Ellis.

The Italian dance stallion will be joined by his cast of professional dancers for This Is Me, his homage to the music and dances that have inspired Pernice’s career, from a competition dancer to being a mainstay of the gushing BBC show.

“Expect all of your favourite Ballroom and Latin dances and more,” says Giovanni. Tickets remain valid from the original date of June 11 2020. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

*The Script: Returning to Scarborough Open Air Theatre in July*

Off to the East Coast part one: The Script, Scarborough Open Air Theatre, July 14

IRISH rock band The Script topped the album charts for a sixth time in October with their greatest hits collection Tales From The Script, matching the feats of Arctic Monkeys, Pink Floyd and Radiohead.

Those songs can be heard live next summer when lead vocalist and keyboardist Danny O’Donoghue, guitarist Mark Sheehan and drummer Glen Power return to Scarborough Open Air Theatre for the first time since June 2018.

Formed in Dublin in 2007, The Script have sold more than 30 million records, chalking up hits with We Cry, The Man Who Can’t Be Moved, For The First Time, Hall Of Fame and Superheroes. Box office: scarboroughopenairtheatre.com.

*Jane McDonald: Leading the line-up at Yorkshire’s Platinum Jubilee Concert at Scarborough Open Air Theatre*

Off to the East Coast part two: Jane McDonald and special guests, Yorkshire’s Platinum Jubilee Concert, Scarborough Open Air Theatre, June 4

WAKEFIELD singing star Jane McDonald will top the bill at next summer’s Scarborough celebration of Her Majesty The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee. A host of special guests will be added.

“I’m absolutely thrilled to be headlining this very special concert, and where better to be holding such a brilliant event than in Yorkshire,” she says. “Everyone knows I’m a proud Yorkshire lass, so it will be so thrilling to walk on to stage in Scarborough for these celebrations.” Box office: scarboroughopenairtheatre.com.

*Paul Hollywood: Sugar-coated secrets and special surprises*

The Great British Baker gets cooking: Paul Hollywood Live, Harrogate Convention Centre, October 23

GREAT British Bake Off judge, celebrity chef and cookbook author Paul Hollywood promises live demonstrations, baking tasks, sugar-coated secrets and special surprises in next autumn’s tour.

Visiting 18 cities and towns, including Harrogate (October 23) and Sheffield City Hall (November 1), Wallasey-born baker’s son Hollywood, 55, will work from a fully equipped on-stage kitchen, sharing his tricks of the trade. Tickets for a slice of Hollywood action are on sale at cuffeandtaylor.com.

December 18, 2021

More Things To Do in York and beyond as panto takes over an airfield car park. List No. 61, courtesy of The Press, York

*Finding his feet: Jared More’s Fizzy Finn with Meg Blowey’s Tink the Cobbler in Riding Lights Theatre Company’s “crackling new Christmas adventure”*

PLAN B may need its own Plan B amid the Omicron surge, but Charles Hutchinson seeks to be positive – in Christmas spirit only – until otherwise informed.

Children’s show of the week: Riding Lights Theatre Company in Fizzy Finn Finds His Feet, Friargate Theatre, York, today to December 23

JON Boustead’s “crackling new Christmas adventure” addresses children’s mental health problems arising from lockdowns and separation from family and friends.

Finn is a fidget whose brain is ablaze with an unbreakable buzz that fizzes to his fingers and tickles his toes, or it would do if he could only find his feet in a 50-minute story of fear and bravery suitable for children aged five to 11.

The show’s magical blend of vivid storytelling, original music by Patrick Burbridge and creative puppetry is presented by Jared More’s Fizzy Finn and Meg Blowey’s Tink the Cobbler. Box office: 01904 613000 or at ridinglights.org/fizzy-finn.

*Christmas Eve would not be complete in York without…City Screen showing It’s A Wonderful Life*

Christmas film tradition of the week: It’s A Wonderful Life (U) at City Screen, York, today, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Christmas Eve

AN elderly angel is sent from Heaven to help desperately frustrated businessman George Bailey (James Stewart) as he contemplates suicide.

Taking George back through his life to point out what good he has done, the angel shows him what life would have been like if he had never existed.

Frank Capra’s classic from 1946 is a Christmas Eve big-screen staple: City Screen has shows that day at 3pm and 6pm. Box office: 0871 902 5747 or at picturehouses.com.

*Joe Alexander Shepherd: York pianist returns to the NCEM tonight*

Pianist of the week: Joe Alexander Shepherd, National Centre for Early Music, York, tonight, 7.30pm

YORK pianist and composer Joe Alexander Shepherd combines beautiful contemporary and classical music with a Christmas ambience tonight, complemented by special guest appearances by singer-songwriter Wounded Bear and singer Amelia Saleh on his return to the NCEM. Expect new compositions, by the way.

Shepherd composed the music for UEFA’s First World War Truce video, starring footballers Sir Bobby Charlton, Wayne Rooney and Gareth Bale, and for a UK Women’s Rugby Football Union advert.

Concert proceeds will go to the Charlie Gard Foundation to support families affected by mitochondrial disease. Box office: 01904 658338 or at ncem.co.uk.

*Art attack: Replete’s mural Shark at Piccadilly Pop Up, Piccadilly, York*

Finale of the week: Uthink Piccadilly Pop Up art studios and gallery, 23 Piccadilly, York, today and tomorrow

THE Uthink Piccadilly Pop Up art studios and gallery must vacate their temporary premises by the end of the month after being served notice by the re-developers.

Since August 2020, the studios opened to the public on Saturdays to showcase work by 15 artists, ranging from painting, drawing, abstract art and collages to photography, sculpture, installation and poetry.

Today, public opening will be from 12 noon to 6pm; on Sunday, a festive market and extended art exhibition will run from 11am. Admission is free.

*Shed Seven: Two “Shedcember” nights in Leeds on the Another Night, Another Town tour*

Gigs of the week outside York: Shed Seven, Another Night, Another Town – Greatest Hits Live Tour, Leeds O2 Academy, Monday and Tuesday

SHED Seven have restarted their Covid-stalled tour after calling off December 10 to 16’s run of shows to next March when a member of the touring party tested positive.

Earlier this week, the York band tweeted: “Excited to confirm that the tour will resume this Friday [December 17] in London – let’s finish what we started!! New dates for the shows that were postponed will be announced next week. Shed Seven ride again. See you down the front. X.”

Tickets are still available for both Leeds gigs at ticketmaster.co.uk/shed-seven-leeds. Doors open at 7pm each night.

*Head’s up: Michael Head to play The Crescent on Tuesday*

Cult gig of the week: Michael Head & The Red Elastic Band, The Crescent, York, Tuesday, 7.30pm

IN the wake of Adios Señor Pussycat in 2017, Michael Head & The Red Elastic Band are working on a new album, nearing completion.

Devotees of the 60-year-old Liverpudlian’s gilded songwriting brio can expect to hear new songs as well as much-loved nuggets from his days in Shack and The Pale Fountains. Pet Snakes support at this standing-only gig. Box office: thecrescentyork.seetickets.com/event/michael-head

*Car Park Panto’s Horrible Christmas: Parking up at Elvington Airfield on January 2*

Pantomime in a car park? Oh yes it is, in Car Park Panto’s Horrible Christmas, Elvington Airfield, near York, January 2, 11am, 2pm and 5pm

BIRMINGHAM Stage Company’s Horrible Histories franchise teams up with Coalition Presents for Car Park Panto’s 14-date tour of Horrible Christmas to racecourses, airfields, stadiums and a motor-racing circuit.

At this car-centred, Covid-secure experience, children and adults can jump up and down in their car seats and make as much noise as they like, tuning in to the live show on stage and screen. Box office: carparkparty.com.

*Rachel and Becky Unthank: York Barbican concert on Sorrows Away tour*

Looking ahead to 2022: The Unthanks, Sorrows Away, York Barbican, May 31; doors 7pm

NORTHUMBRIAN folk sisters Rachel and Becky Unthank will perform forthcoming new album Sorrows Away and Unthanks favourites with an 11-piece ensemble in a co-promotion by York’s Please Please You, The Crescent and Black Swan Folk Club and Brudenell Presents from Leeds.

As the album title suggests, Sorrows Away promises to be a blues-belter and a step into the light for sisters known more for melancholia and, well, sorrow. For tickets for The Unthanks’ return to touring after a two-year hiatus, go to: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

December 15, 2021December 15, 2021

Panto in a car park? Oh, yes it is, in Horrible Christmas at Elvington Airfield on January 2

*Horrible Histories’ cast for Car Park Panto’s Horrible Christmas, destined for Elvington Airfield*

THE world’s first drive-in pantomime is to park up at Elvington Airfield, York, for a “terrible end” to Christmas on January 2, courtesy of the gleefully grotesque Horrible Histories team.

Car Park Panto’s Horrible Christmas will be performed at 11am, 2pm and 5pm that day in the finale to a 14-date tour of racecourses, airports, stadiums and a motor-racing circuit that begins on Friday.

This is the second tour of a show first prompted by the pandemic-enforced closure of theatres nationwide in 2020. Birmingham Stage Company and Coalition Presents responded by working together to save Christmas for more than17,000 families by putting on their drive-in panto premiere.

Writer-director Neal Foster, actor/manager of Birmingham Stage Company, says: “We have to thank the remarkable pandemic closing all the theatres for these car park shows coming about.

“At first, we didn’t know what to do, but various people had ideas about doing things in car parks, and in fact we were contacted by seven companies, but only Coalition followed it up, and so we did Horrible Histories’ Barmy Britain in car parks.

“Then, Guy Robinson, from Coalition, asked if we had a Christmas show, and we said, ‘yes, we have Horrible Christmas’.”

Cue the first tour last winter, when, “by December 31, we were the only company still doing a show, because the theatres had had to close again, and our last show, after two weeks of performances, was in Harrogate [at the Great Yorkshire Showground],” says Neal.

“We then put together Billionaire Boy for car parks, for May, when shows could re-start, and that show then went into the West End. Since May, we’ve done eight shows in seven months; we just haven’t stopped!

*Birmingham Stage Company’s cast for Horrible Histories’ Barmy Britain, the first car park tour show*

“In fact, it’s been one of our most successful years, and a lot of that was down to the money we received from the Culture Recovery Fund. We didn’t need to apply for the third round of grants, but we wouldn’t have been able to do this year’s shows without the £200,000 we received earlier on.”

Neal was “amazed and thrilled by how totally successful the Car Park Party productions have proved to be”. “We’re delighted to be back on tour again with Horrible Christmas. It turns live theatre into a truly unique and festive event.”

In a nutshell, Horrible Christmas is a car-centred, Covid-secure experience, wherein children and adults are able to able to jump up and down in their own seats, cheer and make as much noise as they like, even beeping horns, as they watch a celebration of Christmas “delivered in a way that only Horrible Histories can”.

“You don’t need to worry about anyone else because you’re in your own bubble in your car, like everyone there,” says Neal. “It’s like you’re in your own VIP tent!”

In the panto, when Christmas comes under threat from a jolly man dressed in red, one young boy must save the day, but can he save Christmas? From Victorian villains to medieval monks, Puritan parties to Tudor treats, the Horrible Histories cast of eight sets off on a hair-raising adventure through the history of Christmas in the company of Charles Dickens, Oliver Cromwell, King Henry VIII and St Nicholas as they all join forces to rescue the festive season in Terry Deary’s tale.

True, it is not strictly speaking a typical panto, but nevertheless Horrible Christmas will spark up the audience’s festive spirit, from the comfort and security of their own cars.

In doing so, the Car Park Panto seeks to address these scenarios: children being unable to sit still; the need to cater for different snack requirements; the feeling of anxiety in crowds; the inability to find a dog sitter; and a desire to wear pyjamas, fancy dress or a Christmas jumper at the panto and not be judged.

“You can leave all worries at home and relax as a family with Car Park Panto’s Horrible Christmas,” say the promoters. “If traditional panto at your local theatre is proving too expensive for all the family, Horrible Christmas! is the best value ticket for you.

*The poster for Car Park Panto’s Horrible Christmas show*

“The ticket covers the car, not the people inside, so you can bring your grandparents and babies and be sound in the knowledge you will be safe seated among family and friends, rather than in a packed theatre auditorium.”

Horrible Histories’ own history of Horrible Christmas began in 2013. “We first did it in a co-production with Derby Playhouse that year, and apart from one year, it’s been put on every year since then, at such places as the Lowry, Salford Quays, Blackpool Winter Gardens, Cambridge and Birmingham,” says Neal.

“It’s different from our other Horrible Histories stories, with a cast of eight, making it the biggest Horrible Histories show we do, whereas we do the Barmy Britain show with a double act and big 3D special effects. Not only do we use eight actors but there’s a screen on stage too, so it’s like a concert, with everything being filmed live.”

Horrible Christmas tells the story of a young boy having all his Christmas presents stolen by ‘Father Christmas’, who turns out not to be Father Christmas. “The boy goes back to the times of Charles Dickens, Charles II, Oliver Cromwell and Henry VIII, Saint Nicholas, and back to Bethlehem itself, and what’s different to other Horrible Histories is that it’s very touching,” says Neal.

“It’s worth saying, there’s nothing gory about Horrible Christmas, unlike our other shows. It’s more about being silly and funny – and it works really well in a car park.

“Because the play is about how special Christmas is to people, it was great for us that last Christmas, for some, it was the only way to experience a Christmas show. It remains the safest way to see a Christmas show, and it’s particularly good if you have anyone elderly or vulnerable in your family.”

What comes next for Horrible Histories? “We’ve been doing Horrible Histories shows for 16 years now, starting in 2005, and there’s no end to that history,” says Neal. “Fortunately, humans have produced all sorts of horrible history down the years, and Boris Johnson is doing that for us now, isn’t he?!”

Car Park Panto presents Horrible Histories in Horrible Christmas, Elvington Airfield, near York, January 2 2022. Bring blankets, sleeping bags, maybe a favourite festive hat – oh, and a car, obviously. Tickets: £49.50 per car, plus £2.50 booking fee, at carparkparty.com.

Did you know?

“HENRY VIII is one of the reasons why turkey became popular on Christmas Day,” says Neal Foster. “The world seems to follow the fashion of what the Royals do, and it was Henry who introduced the eating of turkey at Christmas. As with all the Horrible Histories, that story is taken from a Terry Deary book.”