BWW Reviews: HORRIBLE HISTORIES , New Wimbledon Theatre, May 24 2011

On a stage populated by part-panto heroes, part-Indiana Jones wanabees and part-eccentric schoolteachers, the Horrible Histories template was always going to stretch from books to television to theatre. Sure enough, with Awful Egyptians and Ruthless Romans, Phil Clark's shouty, slapsticky, scary production is on tour, packing in kids who come for a squeal and a giggle and parents who let them because it's educational.

That sounds rather more cynical than I intend, since there's lots of good history weaving in and out of the pratfalls, catchy songs and, yes, c'mon, all together now... audience participation! And any fan of George MacDonald Fraser's dazzling Flashman Papers can't be too sniffy about a few liberties being taken with the historical record in the name of entertainment - so that's me shut up right now!

Pace is everything in children's theatre and just when bandaging mummies is beginning to take second place to badgering mummy, the curtain comes down and it's an ice cream for everyone. Fearing, perhaps, that the actual 3D of theatre wouldn't hold the kids' attention for the second half, cinematic 3D is introduced after the interval and we all get to wear silly glasses and duck as a beetle is flung "towards" us. There's some stuff that might scare the littlest ones, as Death Masks loom high above our heads, but they've probably all seen Harry Potter 12 or whatever we're up to now, so they shouldn't have nightmares.

If the Egyptians don't float your boat up the Nile, the show alternates with one about the Romans, in which I expect we'll learn rather more about centurions, gladiators and Caesar than about the laws of Justinian. However, when the laughter and the frights subside, you can expect your kids to be a lot more interested in the subject than they were before they started dabbling in Horrible Histories - and that can only be a good thing.

Horrible Histories is at the New Wimbledon Theatre until 28 May.