‘It’s going to be chaos!’ Horrible Histories stars speak out as show heads to Nottingham

​Featuring a live band led by Richie Webb performing his much-loved TV songs, with guest appearances from Charles II, Dick Turpin and a bunch of Vikings barging through the stage door, Horrible Histories – The Concert promises a truly Horrible night out.

Horrible Histories has been delighting audiences on CBBC for 15 years. Now in its 11th series, the show has also seen two live productions as part of the BBC Proms. It’s based on the bestselling books by Terry Deary – the world’s top-selling non-fiction author for children – which have sold more than 36 million copies in 45 languages.

Horrible Histories – The Concert stars Richard David-Caine, one of the BBC show’s longest-serving performers, also known for Class Dismissed and CBeebies’ Swashbuckle; Harrie Hayes, who has embodied history’s most iconic royals, from Elizabeth I to Marie Antoinette on the BBC series; and Neal Foster, the company’s actor/manager and creative force behind all the Horrible Histories Live on Stage shows since 2005.

And as the show heads out on tour, the trio spoke to Warren Higgins about what audiences can expect – and why they think Horrible Histories has been such a hit.

Richard & Harrie, as regular cast members of the TV series, are you looking forward to joining Neil and the theatre team on this tour?

Harrie: Massively, because he's been doing this for 20 years. I came to see Barmy Britain in in 2012 at the Fringe in Edinburgh, it was the first year of the West End show and it transferred to the Edinburgh Festival. So that's 13 years ago that I met Neil and I’ve been working very hard to try to work with him since then.

Richard & Harrie, you have both done plenty of stage work before, is it that different to what you do on TV?

Richard: Yeah, I think it's massively difficult. Getting instant gratification, that instant feedback there’s electricity in the space where once you create a character and you bring it to life in front of people, they respond to it immediately. You ride on that wave and then they ride on your wave and a beautiful kind of comedy cycle is born.

Neal: I don't think the public realises, even regular theatregoers, just how important role they play in a theatre show. I just did some Horrible Histories Gorgeous Georgians & Vile Victorians performances last week and it's fascinating. The difference it makes when you get an audience that's really up for it, it changes the show completely and I don't think the public are aware of it at all. Often in the theatre you can often only see the front row, people think when we stand in front of a crowd, 2,000 people, that we can see 2,000 people. Actually, you could probably only see 12 people and that's the people on the front row. The reaction of those 12 people is incredibly powerful to how you feel about the show, if they are beaming and smiling and laughing, I mean, it just changes the whole experience for you because you're getting the reaction immediately.

Harrie: When we were filming it, you're doing it to a room full of adults and with this we’re doing it for kids so they’re part of the performance. There's lots of parts where we are interacting with the audience, but also just singing along, joining in with their energy, our energy - I think potentially the live shows are going to be chaos in the best way with the with the kids there. We want them to bring that energy and will bring it right back at them.

Neal: These Horrible Histories songs have been around for a long time; we feature 16 songs in the show. 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, to join in, 'cause we're going to do that all the time. So, who knows what it's going to be like in terms of just how much of a riot we're going to create when finally, you know, Shakespeare is singing with you, Charles II is singing with you, Queen Elizabeth is singing with you.

Richard: Exactly. I think that that's a big difference with the previous work that we created. Those characters and routines that no one had ever seen before this show comes with a great excitement of ‘I know these songs, I know the people who sing these songs, I know the characters so it's like watching a new band and your favourite rock band that's been going for a few years.

What's been the best character from history each of you have played?

Harrie: I love playing Elizabeth I because she is just so childish and bossy, but also funny and silly. I love the costume, I love doing the voice, I love being annoying, which I think she is a lot of the time. It was very competitive.

Neal: In terms of the television series, I've ended up with my two favourite songs from the series, because I've ended up with the Charles II and Dick Turpin. Mathew Baynton is sort of a mythic hero now of the Horrible Histories genre, and to be singing two of those songs and the Viking song - which is one of the great songs of the television series. So, who knows, after this show it will be my favourite, favourite. Maybe this will blow everything out of water, I'll just want to be in television for the rest of my life and I'll be begging “let me in!”.

Richard: One that particularly stands out is James I, which you might get a sneaky glimpse of in the show. He's just so wild and unpredictable, even I don't know what's going to come out of my mouth. I sort of get possessed by this Scottish demon when I'm playing him and it's just an excuse to be incredibly playful as an actor.

The show comes to the Royal Concert Hall on Sunday March 29. Visit trch.co.uk or call 0115 989 5555 to book.