Birmingham Stage Company is presenting Horrible Histories ‘Horrible Christmas’ to the AJ Bell Stadium in late December.

The Pantomime group have fought against the odds to provide a list of panto dates for families over the festive season at a time when you thought it would not have been possible. The shows received a great response, selling out extremely fast.

This means the AJ Bell Stadium car park show, which will be taking place on the 26th and 27th of December, is also sold out.

Neal Foster, actor and manager from Birmingham Stage Company, is happy to be returning to Greater Manchester;

“We play in the Lowry every year, we have such a high demand in Manchester that we just had to return even if it is not in the theatre.”

Neal also admits it’s been a tough tour to organise due to the ongoing pandemic and indoor restrictions;

“It’s been as difficult as it gets. It’s been expensive to play in the car park with so many things to organise like security, safety, local council, lighting, sound and music. Once theatres re-open we will go back.”

Audiences were not the only people happy to see the pantomime stage return, actors were also very keen to get back on stage and perform, saying;

“Everyone was desperate to come back. 99% of actors have been out of work since March. Altogether we have 8 actors in the play and around 12 stage workers.

“They would have bitten your hand off to come back.”

The play in December is titled ‘Horrible Christmas’.

“We did this same play in the Lowry three or four years ago. It’s about a bad Santa that hates Christmas and goes back to when Christmas was created to try and stop it.

“Along the way, he meets huge characters from history including Charles Dickins, Oliver Cromwell, Henry the 8th and he even goes back to the nativity in Bethlehem for the birth of Jesus.”

Image credits Birmingham Stage Company. Permission given

The panto is aimed at family audiences as Horrible Histories tries to bring some comfort to children in what may seem a bizarre Christmas this year.

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