Manchester Theatre News & Reviews

REVIEW - King Arthur is a brilliant, clever, hilarious and utterly fantastic immersive experience!

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On Tuesday, we were invited to The Lowry to see King Arthur. Read what our reviewer Leanne Parker had to say about this hilarious show...

Le Navet Bete (roughly translated – ‘The Daft Turnip) originated in 2008. Their beginning was rather low-key – in a Church Hall, while all working full-time jobs doing other things. Since then, they have created multiple productions and have been touring the UK and internationally with their own blend of humour, fun and chaotic physical comedy. They are an artist-led theatre company run by company directors Al Dunn, Nick Bunt and Matt Freeman who also take to the stage to perform for their audiences. Created in Exeter, Devon their mission is to ‘create and tour hilarious, physical and totally accessible comedy theatre using creative and engaging storytelling for absolutely everyone (ages 4 - 104!)’.

Tonight was my first experience of this company, and indeed, of this style of theatre, so I was rather unsure as to what I could expect to unfold before me. This sense of intrigue was greatly increased at reading that from those humble origins, Le Navet Bete quickly established themselves firmly as one of the UK’s most ridiculously outrageous outdoor acts. Indeed, they have performed at an impressive (and diverse!) range of locations such as Glastonbury Festival, The Herrenhausen Palace in Hanover, Germany, a yacht festival on the Italian Riviera, the ruins of an old colonial church in the heart of Mexico City, an industrial factory in Prague and high up on a cliff on the Rock of Gibraltar. I suspected something in the vein of Monty Python if I am honest; but with a poster warning me that the show contains food and latex before we entered the auditorium, who even knew what this evening would entail!

Let’s begin with the story that unfolds before us this evening. As the show opens, we are presented with three rather unexceptional squires, Dave, Edgar and Osbert, played by Matt Freeman, Nick Bunt and Al Dunn, who are in a bit of bother. A fair bit of bother as it happens. As the familiar Queen tune, ‘I want to break free’ plays, with a clever and rather naughty lyrical twist, we find them in the stocks with rotten vegetables being chucked at them. We find out that one week earlier, they, or rather, Dave on their behalf, have drunkenly promised to stage a fantastical theatrical production – ‘ArthurFest’ to praise and revere the Legend that is the young King Arthur – despite none of them having any acting experience, and King Arthur being rather dull and not even remotely fantastic or legendary or having anything that even vaguely resembles a stage-worthy life! Act one follows the three squires desperate, sometimes (often!) farcical, ridiculous and, as it turns out, fruitless efforts to gather anything even remotely interesting to pull together the promised production, while the second act sees them perform the play within a play. The range of characters is impressive, especially considering they are all played by the three performers on stage. And they are all utterly bonkers in their own way.

This is a show which is very hard to define with a single statement. I had so many ‘What the heck am I even watching here?!’ moments throughout the evening! It’s fun for sure, with a generous sprinkle of laugh out loud moments, some enjoyably risqué lines lost on the younger audience members but not at all lost on older ones, some rather impressive acrobatic feats, some excellent and well-loved musical choices with quirky lyrical adaptations, and some rather unexpected – ‘did that really just happen?’ moments (detachable genitalia anyone?!). The logistics of this being three actors, playing all the roles, and the lightning quick changes that required for this, especially regarding costumes, is hugely impressive! The skill on display, and clearly behind the scenes, is evidenced by the slickness of it all. I think what stands out most for me, is the energy of the performers and they fun they are so clearly having with it all. There’s something infectious about it, which draws you in and pulls you along for the ride. And let me turn to those three performers now.

Matt Freeman is one of the three pillars of Le Navet Bete. He has always apparently always loved to dress up in women’s clothing and the roles he performed this evening certainly gave him the opportunity! He also performs some very impressive acrobatics. He commands the space, flinging himself all over it with jumps, tumbles and more. His energy is limitless. His facial expressions, use of his body and voice are brilliant. In his various roles, not least the one and only ‘Dave the Rave’, he is show-stealing. He exudes playful charm, ridiculousness and a cheeky naughtiness that is utterly delightful. Australian Nick Bunt hails originally from the Gold Coast. His Le Navet Bete bio tells me that he has always loved acting and writing comedy and has performed in some of the most widely respected venues all over the UK and internationally. He ‘takes comedic inspiration from many things including the cleverly written farce of Fawlty Towers, the absurd slapstick in Bottom and the ridiculous character comedy in Father Ted’ and all of these are very much present in tonight’s script.

Playing multiple roles this evening, Bunt is brilliant. His slapstick timing and ridiculous facial expressions are comedy gold. Al Dunn brings personality, physical comedy at it’s finest and a French accent that you’ll never forget! He is exhausting to watch, in a good way, especially as Vivien, who can go up the stairs, but not down the stairs, in a scene which just gets funnier and funnier as it goes on. The fact that immediately after, he comes back out to play French Lancelot in a cooking scene is hilarious and is one of the many parts of the performance where lines, whether scripted to ad-lib, are thrown to the audience as the performers break the fourth wall repeatedly in ways which are hilarious. What stood out the most was just how much these three performers clearly *love* what they do. The joy in it for them was clear and their closeness and bond makes the whole experience feel intimate, warm and genuinely lovely. It feels like an evening spent with friends and you walk away really feeling that.

It is to their absolute credit that these three engaging performers wear so many hats successfully, not just in front of us, the audience, as they perform the show, but also behind the scenes as writers, producers and frankly, almost everything else you can imagine. They work collaboratively with a range of additional creatives. In this case, Olivier award nominated John Nicolson, (Tweedys Massive Circus, Rik Mayall’s Bedtime Stories, Dracula: The Bloody Truth) as co-writer and director, Fi Russell (Set & Costume Designer / Stage Manager – Treasure Island, Velveteen Rabbit, Aladdin, The Three Musketeers), Stuart Billinghurst (Lighting Designer) and Jonny Wharton (Composer and Sound Design – Mary: The Pigeon who Never Gave Up, Friends for All, Swings and Roundabouts).

Matt, Al and Nick say, “It’s so important to mention that the reason we do this is to make people laugh, to give our fantastic audiences an experience that they can share with friends or family, to create long-lasting memories and for people to enjoy theatre in a way theatre should be enjoyed...together!” and I can absolutely confirm that they ticked all those boxes this evening. I cannot recommend this show highly enough for anyone who has even the smallest sense of humour and it gets ALL the stars from me! It’s like a tonic for joy, a feel-good, genuinely funny, hugely entertaining evening. I laughed until I cried, a smiled until my face hurt, and I walked away with a warm fuzzy happy glow from spending just over two hours enveloped in the brilliant, clever, hilarious, bonkers and utterly fantastic immersive experience that is an evening with Le Navet Bete.

WE SCORE KING ARTHUR..