09 Jul 2026
The Pantaloons were back at the Roman Theatre Festival and Deborah Heath was there for the experience…
Given that the Pantaloons managed to squeeze 2,000 years of history into two hours, I felt compelled to give myself a similar challenge; to squeeze my review into a total of 720 words, which is completely random and not just the total number I ended up with!
I was delighted to see these firm festival favourites return for another stint in Verulamium’s open-air theatre, I have long appreciated The Pantaloons’ signature blend of clowning, audience participation, and lively re-telling of traditional stories with a skeleton cast. This year they are touring the UK with a collection of plays including ‘Twelfth Night’, ‘Hound of the Baskervilles’ and this offering of ‘The (Almost) Complete History of Britain’.
Writers Mark Hayward and Steve Purcell have created an appealing concept for a show which completely sold out, attracting a range of theatre goers from Horrible Histories-loving children, to adults of all ages.
What is particularly impressive about the premise of this Pantaloons’ show is that it came about after surveying their audience about that they would like to see. It is testament to their clear passion for giving the punters the best possible experience and this they did despite two hours of persistent rain, spattered with some thunder and lightning! I simply cannot praise the actors enough for being so professional during the terrible weather and keeping a smile on their faces to inspire the same in their increasingly soggy audience.
The multitalented cast of three (Paula Gilmour, Mark Hayward and William Ross-Fawcett) combined sketch style storytelling with live songs, accompanied by a ukulele, guitar and cajon. They all had tuneful voices and great projection. I lost count of the number of characters they performed between them but was pleased to see key historical figures such as the Tudor monarchs, Guy Fawkes and even the Beatles. Each character was energetically presented, however humble, showing that we are all responsible for shaping history.
Highlights from the show included the six wives of Henry VIII done Traitors-style with a nod to ‘Four Weddings and a Funeral’. A clever touch was ending it with ‘Love is All Around’ sung to the tune of ‘Greensleeves’. I really enjoyed the local history section and came away actually learning something, having previously been unaware of St Albans’ involvement in the 1851 Corruption Act.
The Charles I and II scenes were really successful too, covering the rather serious English Civil War, Black Death and Fire of London with just the right amount of lightness to make it respectful yet entertaining. Some lucky audience members were even given prop flames to wave to represent the fire – I was a bit jealous!
It is always a risk to introduce a contrasting section to a play when your style has been firmly established. I was therefore a little surprised after a comedic 90 minutes, packed with punchy puns, to see a sobering WWI poetry section towards the end of the play. My goodness though, it was powerful, poignant and it totally worked. A stillness fell over the audience, particularly for William Ross-Fawcett’s beautiful rendition of Wilfred Owen’s Dulce et Decorum Est.
Stage design was appropriately minimal with just enough to suggest a museum set with boxes of token costumes pieces and props. My favourite costume was the Norman helmet – in fact a plastic fireman’s helmet with a spoon fixed over the nose!
The company really embraced this pared-back approach to props by making a feature of it such as celebrating the lack of swords with miming sound effects from a garden trowel and fork. By encouraging the audience to fill in the gaps they engaged our full imagination, making around 200 individual pieces of theatre rather than just one.
I have now had the pleasure of seeing a lot of Pantaloons shows and this one is a very fine example of what they do best – a micro cast, playing a macro character list (not to mention musical instruments!) giving us a hugely entertaining and sometimes surprising evening. Well done to the cast for superb performances in terrible weather conditions, and to actor-director Mark Hayward for his overall vision. Do look out for the Pantaloons’ traveling shows when you are on your UK holidays this summer so just wait for the next time they grace the stage of the Roman Theatre.
