Barmy Britain Part 2

5
Reviewer's Rating

Barmy Britain pt. 2 is a fun, educational show. I would recommend it to anyone aged 6-10 but it’s really funny and lots of older people would enjoy it too. This is a quick-change show, with only two actors playing every part as they show you some of the most famous characters in British history.

The show starts with an argument between the two actors, over whether Britain is barmy or great. They decide to settle the argument by showing us the stories and characters that the woman thinks makes Britain great and the stories and characters the man thinks makes Britain barmy. Some the characters that they explore are Richard the Lionheart, Dick Turpin, Elizabeth 1st and Charles 1st. They told some of the stories in more modern ways, like The Only Way Is Essex for Dick Turpin and Take Me Out for Edward 1st and William Wallace.

Almost every scene had a different song to go with it, which I thought was brilliant. Some were existing songs with different words to them (like Boudicca singing “She will smash you!” to the tune of “We will rock you!), and some were new songs in different styles like the Victoria and Albert rap. There was also a song with actions that we had to learn.

My favourite bit was the Richard the Lionheart scene. There was a joke that every time anyone said ‘Richard the Lionheart’, they added a lion’s roar on the end. Every time Richard the Lionheart himself said it, the roar on the end came out wrong e.g.  a cat’s meow or ‘Cashier number 4 please!’. The Charles I scene was also very funny: the actor used his own head but a puppet body and legs to make the king look very short.

A disgustingly wonderful and horribly exciting show, with plenty of severed heads.