Make way for Awful Egyptians and Terrible Tudors

Horrible Histories

Awful Egyptians

Theatre Severn

Wednesday 10th April-Sunday 14th April

Awful Egyptians

This is a two halved review . Today I will talk about Awful Egyptians and tomorrow I will review the Terrible Tudors. Both playing at Theatre Severn twice a day until Sunday.

If you are over twenty but under thirty one imagines that you were amused or even roared out loud to this incredible way of teaching history. Inspired by the books written byTerry Deary, if you have children you shouldn’t miss this one, it is truly brilliant!

Presented by three incredibly talented, nay versatile actors, this show was in real safe hands. We laughed out loud at the Pharaoh’s, we giggled at the gore and we positively howled at the incredible Bogglevision. (More of that later)

Director, Benedict Martin must be delighted to have such a witty script to work with but it’s the superb direction that ensures the pun or joke gets presented. Adapted for stage by John-Paul Cherrington, the audience (average age 10) were thrilled and laughed and sang and clapped and everything else this omnipotent cast demanded. To say the audience was eating out of their hands would be an understatement. The jokes flew so thick and fast it was difficult to keep up with the mirth.

This is a clever show, design and costume playing an incredibly important part. One is aware of the amount of work The Birmingham Stage Company have put in to present such an amazing show.

Framed in a museum, a teacher (Lisa Allen) and her pupil (Izaak Cainer) find themselves stuck as they got locked in when the museum closes. During their evening’s incarceration the greatest Pharaoh of them all, Rameses the Second (Simon Nock) appears and leads them through an incredible 120 minutes of tomb raiding, hieroglyphics, serpents, beetles and mummys. It is his intention to prove he was the greatest Pharaoh of them all. To prove his point one is taken on a fantastically fact filled show.

The second half ramped up the gears somewhat as it was all presented with Bogglevision assistance. For the uninitiated this is three dimensional theatre. Wearing the provided Three D glasses the whole scene is full of Three D magnificence. Rocks are thrown at you, serpents approach you showing the fangs and even mummys fly off the stage right into one’s face it is truly incredible. This is the first time I have seen the entire act in Bogglevision but it is the future and makes theatre so much more exciting. The effect is very realistic and one believes you will jump a mile more than once as thes things hurtle off the stage towards you.

One cannot praise the cast enough. They keep an audience of mostly year six children utterly rapt, but also the adults. One isn’t sure if everyone else was laughing on account of the volume of my own guffawing.

This is as I have said a brilliant theatrical experience. It is innovative , fresh and exciting. Tomorrow I return for the Terrible Tudors but as for the Awful Egyptians they alone have won this review the highest star award as one has no qualms in saying…

This is a Five Star review

Owen J.Lewis