Playing Henry VIII? It's all about the power stance!
It’s the stance, says Ethan Lawrence. Adopt the stance, feet apart, chest thrust forward, hands on hips, and you are 70 per cent there.
Henry VIII starts to emerge very naturally, as indeed he will do on the Brighton Dome stage this April.
Horrible Histories – The Concert offers five performances between Thursday-Saturday, April 9-11 when, for the very first time, favourite characters from the BAFTA Award-winning CBBC TV series will join actors from the stage show live on stage.
“I am from the TV half,” Ethan says. “I joined the cast officially in 2021 after a delay due to the coronavirus and I remain part of the TV team to this day.”
It's great to be taking it onto the stage now: “My first love was theatre and that's why I wanted to do this in the first place. You never really forget how to do theatre but it has been really interesting applying the different disciplines. One of the things I've enjoyed is that in the theatre you get to the time to rehearse. You don't get that with TV where you are just piling through the scenes so it's great to get the chance to dive into it more rather than just churning out scene after scene after scene.
“Obviously you have to be bigger on stage because we're really playing some pretty big rooms. You got to think about being heard at the back and remember all the old instincts but we're lucky that we've got really excellent crew and an excellent sound team so we're not having to push too hard which is just as well because it's a long tour and we don't want to be blowing our voices out every time! But the tour is great. I've really enjoyed it. We kicked off in January in Darlington and we've got about a month left, finishing up in Sunderland. Our penultimate dates are in Brighton.”
Everyone plays multiple roles but crucially Ethan is Henry VIII, not a role, however he plays on TV: “So it is nice to step into these quite large shoes! 70 per cent of it is the power stance and if you do that, you're well on the way. The rest of it is just being really obnoxious and that's the fun. I think it's the songs that carry the day and it's a wonderful opportunity for the kids to join in and also for the adult kids to join in!
“I don’t think Henry actually had any redeeming features at all. He was dreadful but the beauty of Horrible Histories is that you can take these people and not hide anything that they may or may not have done but you don't get booed off the stage so it's a chance to learn a bit about them as well.”
Cast: Richard David-Caine, Harrie Hayes, Inel Tomlinson, Ethan Lawrence, Verona Rose, Alison Fitzjohn, Neal Foster and Grace Hull. Presented by Birmingham Stage Company and Lion Television.