Horrible Histories present a World War double bill at The Lowry

Feb 1 2009 by Michael Green, Chester Chronicle

FROM the brutal Blitz to the front line, Terry Deary’s Woeful Second World War and Frightful First World War, come to life with 3D special effects at The Lowry in Salford Quays next week.

Woeful Second World War tells the story of two children, Alf and Sally, who get evacuated to darkest Wales, away from the damp shelters and nightly bombings of their home city – only to encounter rotten rations, scary schools and even scarier new parents.

In the second half of the show, Alf and Sally deal with their new life and the audience wear 3D specs to see the amazing Bogglevision effects, getting ready to duck as the German bombers make their way to Coventry.

Frightful First World War is the story of 13-year-old Angelica Taylor who, while struggling with her history homework, gets sucked into her computer and stuck in the Horrible Histories website until she has travelled through the five years of the First World War.

She’s helped by Private Paul Turner, a 16-year-old soldier whom she meets in every year of the war. But if Angelica doesn’t complete a task, gets killed or fails to reach 1918 before the battery power runs out, she’ll be stuck inside her laptop forever.

Terry Deary is the author of 190 books which are sold in 40 different languages. Horrible Histories have sold more than 20 million books world wide.

The author said: “My job is not to write plays or books. My job is to change the world. I want to give people a proper perspective.

“Horrible Histories are about the hard-up and unfortunate and showing what evil people the powerful and privileged often are. The stories of poor people are always neglected and victims of suffering are often the real heroes.”

The Birmingham Stage Company have triumphed with stage versions of four of Terry Deary’s hugely successful Horrible Histories books: the Tudors, Victorians, Egyptians and Romans.

Using just four actors and amazing 3D Bogglevision, they are now undertaking their most ambitious task of bringing the First and Second World Wars alive to young theatre audiences.

Horrible Histories visit The Lowry from February 10-14. Frightful First World War can be seen at the following times: Wednesday 1.30pm, Thursday 10.30am, Friday 7pm, Saturday 2.30pm. Woeful Second World War times are: Tuesday and Saturday 7pm, Wednesday and Friday 10.30am, Thursday 1.30pm.

Ring the box office on 0870 787 5793 or visit www.thelowry.com.