We had a fun family afternoon at the De La Warr Pavilion last Sunday. They had gifted us tickets to watch Horrible Histories, Barmy Britain part 3 and to be honest I had no idea what to expect. The kids all watch the TV programme (well 8 year old Miss M and Miss E do as 12 year old JJ tells me he outgrew it years ago) but he still seems to have a massive collection of the books in his room but apparently reading is different, much more grown-up!
The one hour theatre show is billed as being suitable for children aged 6 years upwards and I think it was perfectly pitched. My kids have not been to many live theatre shows before and I think TV has spoilt them somewhat as they were a little disappointed there were only two actors in it, Neal Foster and Anthony Spargo. Neal and Anthony was fantastic though, so much energy and just bouncing off each other. They were the full works as far as I'm concerned.I didn't expect to laugh so much at this stage show but it has a definite comedy edge to it. The audience were encouraged to participate in many ways with a sing along, calling out, clapping and one lucky little girl even got to go up on stage, one of mine would have loved that!
I thought the show was super clever, it was two men, one big travel case and two stacks of costumes and they dd everything in front of our eyes including changing clothes but it remained fun and the high-energy kept up the whole way through. We bounced our way though some of the major British historic events and we met King Charles II, the Puritons and Nelson. Here is a glimpse of some of the sketches -