From Henry VIII to Ramesses The Great in just 24 hours, the Horrible Histories team were back on the Alhambra stage this weekend with the nasty antics of The Awful Egyptians firmly in their sights.

And again, it was a packed house as educational trio – Pharaoh Rob Cummings, Jack Ballard as teacher Mr Bland and his student Milly (aka Megan Parry) – began their tour of the Nile and all things Egypt.

This brilliantly visual production ‘locked’ Mr Bland and Milly in the museum for the night and, at the appointed hour, Ramesses appeared, whisked them away to one of his pyramids and challenged them to escape in an Indiana Jones inspired epic of fun, graphics and adventure.

And, throughout, the colourful escapade, complete with clever graphics, was jammed full of fun facts about the ancient (sorry awful) Egyptians, including how they mummified bodies by pulling the dead person’s brains out through their nose.

And the kids loved it, especially when they got to wear 3d glasses in the second half with body parts and cobra snakes flying here, there and everywhere!

Terry Deary’s iconic books have sold millions of copies across the world and, these days, he has an army of young fans for these innovative theatre productions.

But it takes a lot of clever thinking to distil history into a simple format that very young children can understand and, by whipping up a panto style fervour in the audience, it is not long before hundreds of kids are clapping, singing and joining in with the antics.

But, when a live mummy appears in the second half festooned in bandages, brace yourself: I thought the Alhambra was going to go into complete meltdown!

Deary took an idea, produced a couple of books and the rest, as they say, is history. Simply brilliant and brilliant in its simplicity, The Awful Egyptians, like Friday’s show The Terrible Tudors, teaches you something, however old you are.

Me? Well, one of my favourite poems is Percy Shelley’s Ozymandias but what I didn’t know is that the 14-line sonnet was dedicated to the crumbling memory of Ramesses II or ‘Ozzy’, as he was known by the Greeks. Not a lot of people know that, not even me! But, I do now.

Another historical showstopper by The Birmingham Stage Company.

Horrible Histories - The Awful Egyptians
Alhambra Theatre, Bradford