Guest Blog: Benedict Martin on HORRIBLE HISTORIES: BARMY BRITAIN - PART FOUR

I have been part of the wonderful, weird and wacky world of Horrible Histories from the very beginning.

Having worked for the Birmingham Stage Company on a number of productions, their actor/manager and all-round Svengali Neal Foster asked me, in 2005, to be in the first theatre production of Horrible Histories. I was aware of Terry Deary's books, but being of a certain age and, at yet, with no children, I hadn't read any of them. It was a joy to discover how anarchic and funny they were.

Our first two shows were The Terrible Tudors and The Vile Victorians, with a cast of four, hundreds of costumes and silly songs aplenty. We toured round the country for nearly a year and realised we had something rather special. An irreverent, yet educational spectacle enjoyed by both the children and the parents.

I've been involved on and off ever since, and when Neal was asked to put on a small, stripped-down version for the children's festival Lollibop in 2011, he got myself and the actress Lauren Redding to help cobble together a few scenes from various shows and perform them in a tent between Charlie 'n' Lola and Rastamouse! It worked so well that Neal hit upon the clever idea of writing new sketches based entirely on incidents from British history. Keeping it simple, with just two actors who never leave the stage and two coat stands, laden with many costumes. Barmy Britain was born.

We opened at the Garrick Theatre in 2012, and since then Barmy Britain has been performed every year in London's glamorous West End, making it the longest-running children's show in history. We do like history! This summer, back by popular demand, will see the return of Barmy Britain Part Four (don't worry, you don't need to have seen parts 1-3 first, it's not Game of Thrones). I feel proud and honoured to be back on the stage in London, and it means I can live at home after all this touring malarkey.

Over the years I've had the joy, and sometimes misfortune, to play hundreds of different characters throughout history - sometimes famous, usually infamous, and quite often just normal people like you or me.

I've played Henry VIII, Richard III, Guy Fawkes, Dick Turpin, Burke (or was it Hare?), King Philip of Spain, Alan Sugar (don't ask!), Oliver Cromwell, Samuel Pepys, as well as many people doing every day jobs like the man who wiped the King's bottom, or the night soil man who emptied your loo out in Victorian times. It's a varied career.

In this latest show, since it's just two blokes, myself and the wonderful Pip Chamberlin, I get to put on a number of dresses, which is always fun. The extremely heavy dress and ruff of Queen Elizabeth I is followed by the far more simple yet stylish number for Mary, Queen of Scots. Anna Wintour, eat your heart out!

One of the many things I love about doing these shows is the rather unique way they're created. We of course have a script to begin with, but because so much of the Horrible Histories humour is visual, the script changes daily in rehearsals. The sound effects are like a third actor on the stage, and our sound designer Nick Saegar works alongside us early into rehearsals, which again changes our timings, laugh lines, blocking and gives us more fart jokes, which - let's face it - is the main reason we're doing it!

The theatre is still so new to so many children, and doing these shows gives me a sense of that wonderment and excitement. And because it's more of a family show than just for the kids, they can join in the laughter and the learning with their parents. And laugh at the poo jokes...

Horrible Histories: Barmy Britain - Part Four is at the Apollo Theatre 1-30 August

Photo credit: Mark Douet

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