Live actors, 3,000-year-old artefacts and a show that makes ancient Egyptian history genuinely unforgettable. This one’s worth booking.
There are approximately 180 objects in the Ramses and the Pharaohs’ Gold exhibition at Battersea Power Station that are over 3,000 years old, including the actual coffin of Ramses the Great and the silver coffin of Shoshenq II. This summer, Horrible Histories is turning up alongside them, and things are about to get considerably louder.
Horrible Histories Live at the Museum: Awesome Egyptians launches on 27 July, running Monday to Saturday until 13 September. The show unfolds in two parts. The first takes place inside the exhibition itself, where families are guided through the galleries by a live actor playing Ramses II, who narrates the history of his own reign surrounded by the actual artefacts of it. The second is a full live performance featuring audience participation, gruesome facts about the mummification process and the infamous Mummy Rap, which if you have children of a certain age you probably already know by heart.
It’s a genuinely interesting format: rather than keeping the performance separate from the objects, the live theatre and the exhibition are woven together, which gives the artefacts a context that a static label rarely manages. The coffin of Ramses the Great is considerably more vivid when someone claiming to be Ramses the Great is standing next to it.
The broader Ramses and the Pharaohs’ Gold exhibition, on loan from Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities, has also just been extended until 3 January 2027 following strong demand. The 180-piece collection includes the gold mask of Amenemope, colossal statues and more than 3,000 years of royal treasures. If you haven’t been yet, the extension means there’s now no excuse.
The London x London Take: The Horrible Histories stage show has been running since 2005 and knows exactly how to pitch history at children without dumbing it down. Adding real Egyptian artefacts to that formula is smart, and it gives the exhibition a new reason to visit even if you’ve already been. Strong summer holiday pick for families with children aged five and up.
Need to Know
- Where: NEON at Battersea Power Station, Circus Road West, London SW11 8EZ
- When: 27 July to 13 September 2026, Monday to Saturday at 10.30am, 12.30pm and 2.30pm
- Age: Suitable for ages 5 and up
- Price: From £37.50 (adults), £17.50 (children)
