The cast poster for Horrible Histories: The Concert, Live And Dead On Stage. Picture: Richard Southgate
FOR the first time in history, favourite songs and actors from the CBBC TV series Horrible Histories will be appearing live – and dead! – on stage in a special concert production. York Barbican awaits on April 6 and 7.
Asked to create the greatest show in history by his boss Queen Elizabeth I, esteemed playwright William Shakespeare has no idea just how much trouble is on its way from such monstrous monarchs as King Henry VIII and Queen Victoria.
Life will hot up even more when Death appears – and now Boudica and Cleopatra want to take over. Can matters worsen still more? Of course they can!
Find out how and why when actors from the BAFTA award-winning television series sing songs from the show such as Stupid Deaths, Charles II, Dick Turpin and The Monarchs Song, to the accompaniment of a live band led by Horrible Histories song master Richie Webb, as the Bard seeks help to save him from execution.
Horrible Histories: The Concert director and Birmingham Stage Company actor/manager Neal Foster
“The trick about this show is the disaster is unfolding in front of you, so the audience are in on it,” says director Neal Foster. “No-one knows how it’s going to work or whether Shakespeare is going to get away with it or just how disastrous it’s going to because it’s really happening right there.”
On tour from January 23 to April 18, Horrible Histories: The Concert, Live And Dead On Stage is written by Ben Ward and Claire Wetton, with songs and music by Webb, and is directed by Birmingham Stage Company actor/manager Foster, designed by Jackie Trousdale and choreographed by Lucie Pankhurst.
Foster, the creative force behind all the Horrible Histories Live on Stage adaptations of Terry Deary’s stories since 2005, will be playing Charles II, York Gaol anti-hero Dick Turpin and a Viking.
“These Horrible Histories TV songs have been around for a long time and we feature 16 of the most popular songs in the show,” says Neal. “They’re so loved and no-one around the country’s ever had the chance to see them live on stage and to sing with the actors and join in.
Harrie Hayes’s Elizabeth I making her point to Richard David-Caines’s William Shakespeare in Horrible Histories: The Concert. Picture: Matt Crockett
“I’m singing my two favourite songs from the TV series, because I’m singing the King Of Bling as Charles II and Dick Turpin’s Highwayman. As a Viking, I am singing Literally, literally!”
Neal has brought together two worlds, television and stage, for the concert tour. “Part of the reason this production has happened is because in 2023 we got together with Lion Television [producers of the BBC series] to create ‘Orrible Opera for the BBC Proms,” he says. “We enjoyed working with each other so much, we really wanted to do something again. This seems to be as good as it gets.
“It’s the biggest show we’ve ever done. There’s a cast of nine with a live band of five musicians and we’ve never had a live band in any of our shows before. It’s also got wonderful video effects, with the footage being filmed by Lion Television [producers of Horrible Histories on the BBC]. I think there are about 50 costumes, with wigs, hats, props, turning it into a really enormous show.”
Swapping TV for the live tour are long-serving Richard David-Caine, also known for Class Dismissed and CBeebies’ Swashbuckle; Harrie Hayes, who has embodied history’s most iconic royals, from Elizabeth I to Marie Antoinette; Inel Tomlinson, from Histories’ Rameses and Science’s Big Danny; company favourite Ethan Lawrence, also from Ricky Gervais’s After Life, and Verona Rose, Horrible Histories regular, Top Boy and Fully Blown writer-performer and host of ITV2’s Secret Crush.
Verona Rose and Ethan Lawrence’s Henry VIII in Horrible Histories: The Concert. Picture: Matt Crockett
Joining them are Neal and Alison Fitzjohn, his fellow stalwart from Horrible Histories Live on Stage, touring the world with Birmingham Stage Company.
Cast member Ethan Lawrence says: “It’s been a long time since I was last on stage – and I’ve only done one show before: a pantomime. Cinderella. I gave an absolutely stellar performance as Buttons. There were literally tens of people that said I was pretty good!
“Basically I take the jobs that are put in front of me. I’m not so vain that I don’t take on work. It just so happens that I deal with the cards that are presented to me – and now I get the chance to go on stage with Horrible Histories, where Shakespeare is in the process of writing a show starring all your favourite Horrible Histories characters
“Chaos ensues, high jinks prevail – and it’s very interactive as well, encouraging the audience to participate. I can imagine this show, because of its live nature, will be evolving as we do it. York Barbican is very deep into the run, so theatrically it’ll be the show at its best.”
Horrible Histories: The Concert, Live And Dead On Stage cast members, very much live on stage. Picture: Matt Crockett
Fellow cast member Verona Rose admits: “I’m not that good at history! For me, the easiest way to learn about these characters is by watching Horrible Histories.
“I have Cleopatra’s big number, Ra Ra Cleopatra [from Awful Egyptians] and I’ve learnt so much from doing rehearsals for that song.”
Ethan picks out his favourite role: “I’m a busy boy in the show, but the chief thing that’s exciting for me is the opportunity to play Henry VIII. One of the really gratifying things is singing one of the more modern songs from the TV shows, Ruinous Rivals, with Harrie Hayes.”
Verona concludes: “I’m excited to be doing this show, and the more we do the tour, the more shows we do, what the interaction will be will become clearer. From the first laugh, we’ll know what the audience will be like at each show.”
Come on York, make Monday and Tuesday the most Horrible shows yet.
Horrible Histories: The Concert, Live And Dead On Stage, York Barbican, April 6, 2.30pm and 6.30pm; April 7, 11am and 3pm. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.