Hull New Theatre – until 20th October 2018
Reviewed by Catherine McWilliams
5*****
Hats off to the cast of Birmingham Stage Company’s production of Terrible Tudors, what a fun, fast, fabulous romp through Tudor history you gave us last night at Hull New Theatre.
This is a stage adaption of one of Terry Deary’s popular Horrible Histories and it has been skillfully adapted for the stage by John-Paul Cherrington, who ensured that the action zipped along with never a dull moment.
According to the programme Simon Nock plays Dr Dee, Izaak Cainer is Drab and Lisa Allen is Dross, but in actuality these three talented actors play a myriad of characters from Kings to Queens to criminals as they whizz through the history of the period. Costume changes are fast and furious, with songs and rap and puns galore. Add in plenty of gory bits, sound effects, audience participation and some 3D and it was easy to see why the youngsters in the audience were entranced, I was hooked!
The show started with how the Tudors came to power and went through key points of each monarch’s reign, throwing in information about how criminals were treated and the medicine of the day. Everything is presented in such a fun way but the historical facts are accurate and everyone will have come away having learnt something – I certainly did.
But back to Simon Nock, Izaak Cainer and Lisa Allen, these three actors were never off the stage and their energy levels and stamina never faltered and the pace of this production was incredibly fast. It is not easy to keep an audience of children entranced, but they made it look like a walk in the park. They had a wonderful interaction with the audience and were clearly enjoying every minute!
This would be a wonderful trip to the theatre for any youngster, with the added bonus of learning some fun facts as well! If this is coming to a theatre near you than book yourself tickets for this fabulous show. Now let me think, who can I take to see their other show Awful Egyptians…