King Arthur
Newcastle Theatre Royal
Until Wednesday 12 March 2025
A family friendly comedy has landed at the Grey Street venue for just 3 days. Exeter based company Le Navet Bete retrun to the Theatre Royal with their complex mix of slapstick, eclectic musical choice and puns to please an audience.
They said "Camelot is in trouble. King Arthur knows that if he doesn’t turn things around, this civilisation will be forgotten, and be known as nothing more than a rather dull time in British history. But when three hapless squires approach him about changing that legacy… a legend is born. Teaming up with one of UK theatre’s best comedy writers and directors, John Nicholson (Peepolykus), award-winning funny men Le Navet Bete (The Three Musketeers, Treasure Island, Dracula: The Bloody Truth) are back with a brand-new laugh-out-loud show for the ages! A comedy for the whole family, this hilarious retelling of the Arthurian legends will have audiences crying with laughter and become part of the legend themselves!"
A cast of three have created a family friendly piece of physical theatre that is loosely based upon the Arthurian legend. Broadly the concept is that three squires have been instructed to create a piece of theatre based on the legends of Camelot but, as they point out, there are no stories worth using as the tales have yet to be written. The first act involves the three visiting the likes of Guinevere and Merlin looking for possible stories to use.
Written and produced by the three actors who perform in the show, namely Nick Bunt, Al Dunn and Matt Freeman, this is very energetic theatre. It it is also broad ranged in its appeals as the older couples sat around were laughing as much as the families were.
The theatre is physical in that they use frying pans, slapstick and prat falls to create some of the laughs. Certainly, it works well with that CBBC pre-teen market that are rarely addressed in large scale theatre productions. Between the use of current terminology of teenagers, phrases like lit and brat, you do also have moments for the parents. This includes a take on the Queen I Want To Break Free video with the initial stocks scene. There has been an effort to be inclusive in terms of the age appeal.
As a show goes, the cast throw their heart and soul into the action. Breaking the fourth wall regularly may help keep the younger members of the audience more involved in the action in a similar fashion to some Pantomimes. Addressing the audience created a number of laughs in themselves.
King Arthur, in my opinion, hit a real comedic groove in the second act as they perform the play that the characters were asked to do so. The hard working cast (and behind the scenes team) perform in a large number of roles using many costume changes. The show veers away from any parallel with Spamalot and heads heavily into the "Play Goes Wrong" territory. Indeed it is not clear how many "mistakes" are real and how many happen every night - but that does not matter in theatre. The audience laugh along as the prop gets tied up with someone's leg or a wig falls off.
With any show like this, it relies on the audience getting the cultural references, including the music choices and the whole Camelot theme. On the balance I think they get it right, based upon the audience reaction.
The cast really work their socks off in a performance that deserves to play to full houses. I look forward to seeing what La Navet Bete come up with next.
Review: Stephen Oliver
Photos: The Other Richard
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