Paul Coulter really wants you to know he’s a history nerd.
He starts his show by displaying a photo of the tourist who recently graffitied the colosseum on the screen behind him, telling us that his one wish for this show is that we leave knowing a little bit more about history, so we don’t end up graffitiing any historical monuments.
In this sense, his show is successful. Coulter walks us through five different events in history, and how a simple mistake altered them. Ranging from the aftermath of Alexander the Great’s death to the sinking of the Titanic, each story is interesting, easy to follow, and well-delivered. While some of the mistakes are more obviously ridiculous than others, Coulter presents each one with a child-like amazement and energy that keeps the audience engaged throughout.
However, it’s just not funny. Coulter’s humour is over-reliant on photos projected behind him of “ugly” portraits of various historical figures. When discussing the Titanic, the main gag is that Leonardo DiCaprio actually could have fit on that door. I’ve definitely never heard that joke before.
The humour is more suited to a primary school student and in fact, I think the show would benefit from more explicitly targeting young children and families. Although the rating is 12+, I would argue you could definitely take younger children and they would probably enjoy it far more than me, a bored and embittered university History student. Coulter reminded me of those teachers in school who added memes from 2011 to their PowerPoint to try and relate to their disinterested pupils – bless him, he was trying his best.
5 Mistakes That Changed History is informative, polished, and a great concept. Yet it is geared more towards people who only have a surface knowledge of history. I won’t be recommending this to history buffs any time soon.
The show is running until 24 August at Studio Three at Assembly George Square Studios.
Tickets available here.
Image courtesy of Theodora Wong, provided to The Student as press material.