An incredibly silly retelling of the tales of Camelot
Slick, silly and often hilarious, Le Navet Bete’s latest production ‘King Arthur’ is a comic reframing of the famed stories of Camelot, fabricated by three “hapless squires” Edgar, Osbert and Dave. Often pantomime-esque, the show utilises a play within a play format, with the squires tasked by King Arthur himself to create a production about Camelot, or else lose their heads.
As I sat down in the theatre, I realised I didn’t actually know much of the ins and outs of Camelot, besides the really big names (Arthur, Guinevere, Merlin etc.) Whilst ‘King Arthur’ certainly isn’t your bog-standard history show, it definitely is informative, taking you through five of the main tales of Camelot in the two hour running time. It’s incredibly silly. Think ‘Horrible Histories’ meets panto. There are songs, ridiculous costumes, audience participation and plenty of slapstick that kept the audience laughing all the way through.
It’s sometimes hard to believe that there are only three actors onstage, even though it is frequently referenced. Le Navet Bete are incredibly talented multirole actors, rapidly switching between different characters and magically popping up around the set in different costumes. It looks exhausting, but is tackled with a breathlessly frantic ease, and it’s difficult not to get swept along with it. What I most enjoyed was seeing how well the company worked together, and how much genuine fun they seemed to be having onstage. Was it always my sense of humour? Not entirely (I have a fairly low threshold for slapstick), but there were moments of genuine corpsing as each actor pushed each other to their limits that were genuinely hilarious. This made the production feel fresh and not too perfect, despite the clearly well-rehearsed stagecraft that made the whole show so slick.
Perhaps a little on the long side, I think the second half, in which the squires present the show to King Arthur, could have been tightened up a little. But ‘King Arthur’ is an undeniably fun show, bursting with energy and silliness that you won’t regret seeing.