Birmingham Stage Company’s hugely popular adaptations of Terry Deary’s Horrible Histories series return to London next month with a double bill at Hackney Empire.
If you’ve ever wondered why the Tudors were quite so terrible or how the Victorians are worthy of the not-so-flattering title vile, then wonder no more as Terrible Tudors and Vile Victorians arrive at the East London venue from 29 to 31 March.
Alongside a host of actors playing some of history’s most famous characters and an added sprinkling of ground-breaking 3D special effects, Horrible Histories brings the most gruesome and disgusting facts from these fascinating eras to life on stage.
In Terrible Tudors audiences will discover the fate of Henry’s headless wives and his punch up with the Pope, survive the Spanish Armada as it sails into the audience and hear about evil Elizabeth.
Vile Victorians takes the action to the 19th century to find out exactly what a baby farmer did, how to dodge the rotten railway, prepare for the Charge of the Light Brigade and escape the misery of the mines.
Suitable for ages five and older, Horrible Histories has been winning critical acclaim since the series of stage shows first premiered on stage in 1999 with the Times Educational Supplement declaring: “Mortgage the school if you have to. Ransom the governors, even. No child, or adult, should be denied the chance to see this: live theatre, and history, at its rip-roaring best.”