This was a silly romp around historical female figures that actually worked amazingly well! Covering a number of different heroines from 'the moors, the moors’ Bronte Sisters to Virginia Woolf aka Nicole Kidman and the young ‘like so totes right’ queens, you can’t go into this expecting a history lesson. Completely OTT, the Girls cleverly use a number of well known theories on each of the characters to good effect. My favourite sketches featured Napoleon, Nelson and a very saucy Josephine offering out her croissants.
The best thing of the show was the interaction between the three actresses on stage, and in particular when they went off script. Confident, they weren’t afraid to ad lib and were completely comfortable when faced with the unexpected (water spitting is all I will say!). This coupled with good interaction with the audience gives them a mischievous edge which is endearing as well as entertaining.
There were occasional slumps, in particular with projections that I found hard to understand just why they were needed. Perhaps to disguise costume changes or to give them a break from high energy sketches but they translated a bit awkwardly and ruined momentum slightly. The Boadicea rap also didn’t work quite so well for me. Musical parody’s are rife in character comedy and I felt this just needed a bit more work.
Although not a prude and completely open to use of the C-word, I thought that it was unnecessarily used in one of the sketches and was perhaps the one time throughout the show where the audience went quiet and there were a few little gasps.
All in all it was a great show and having just signed with Eddie Izzard’s PR, I look forward to hearing a lot more from The History Girls in future.
What they talked about: history, history and more history.
Show Details: 7.45 pm, Baillie Room, Assembly Hall. BOOK HERE.
Rating: 