Oh polar bear poo!
Wendy Watson’s Christmas presents have been stolen by evil Sidney Claus and it’s up to Wendy and her guide Shirley Holmes to travel through time and save Christmas!
Horrible Christmas, based of course on Horrible Histories, is a brilliantly written and well planned stage show. We watched our heroes and villains travel back through time to save Christmasses from various points in history, including Victorian, Puritan and Tudor.
Children learn about how Christmas has changed and grown throughout the years. They don’t realise they’re learning though because they’re too busy cheering and jeering at the cast, learning songs, laughing at poo-related puns and having a generally fantastic time. I can’t think of many times when my nine year old has been quite so animated. Come to think of it, I don’t recall the last time I was either! I certainly haven’t flapped like a chicken in a long time…
We all thoroughly enjoyed the entire show, though I think a lot of it went over my six-year-old’s head. I’d definitely recommend it for kids of maybe eight and above.
The highlight for me was actor Neal Foster. He played several of the parts and was brilliant and highly amusing in each one, particularly in the role of St Nicholas! Very funny indeed.
Get tickets
Horrible Christmas is on a five week run at The Lowry until 8th January, and tickets are available from The Lowry website.
Disclosure: we were granted complimentary access to see Horrible Christmas in order to carry out this review.