Writer: Paul Coulter
This is a show for anyone who wants to do a walking tour but doesn’t want to walk, as comedian and self confessed history buff Phil Coulter tells his audience about major historical events that all began with a mistake.
Opening with a story from his own childhood to show how history changes depending on who the historian is, he immediately sets the context of the show and lets everyone know that they’re in safe hands for this tour. As the son of a vicar, the comedy will be light and family friendly. You can almost hear the words “and now, if you’d like to follow me, we’ll go to the first stop on our tour”, as he then takes us to where Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin initially as a result of not tidying up before he went on holiday.
After this, he moves away from Edinburgh and on to Egypt, Rome and Cleopatra before she was coming at ya, and then an Australian convict, the Titanic and Richard the Lionheart. The delivery remains light, and the lessons remain interesting, turning dry subject matter into comedy and moving from the headline historical events into the lives of the people that lived them. It’s in these smaller details that the stories really come to life and this becomes more than a historical retelling.
The Titanic story is littered with the obligatory references to Leonardo Di Caprio and Kate Winslet, and elsewhere there are the requisite number of topical comparisons, and jokes to keep the walking tour feel going and stop the show ever becoming a straight history lesson.
The only real misstep in the show is the ending which begins with a section that belongs more in a children’s show or pantomime, and then has a wrap up that sounds like the twee ending of a celebrity special, attempting to give a wider purpose to the show rather than simply accepting that it is pure and simple entertainment.
Overall, Coulter’s geniality and affability carries his audience through the material with ease, making it an ideal late morning show for a family audience, and a walking tour that doesn’t end with the guide asking for additional donations before everybody leaves.
Runs until 27 August 2023 (not 21st) | Image: Contributed
The Reviews Hub Score
Seated walking tour
