Arthurian legend always has the potential to lend itself well to a comedic narrative, just look at classics like Monty Python and the Holy Grail, and the subsequent stage musical it spawned in the guise of Spamalot. Whilst this new exponent of physical comedy theatre company Le Navet Bete, in collaboration with John Nicholson, does provide some genuinely laugh out loud moments, the overall trajectory of the piece is inconsistent to say the least.
King Arthur has all the ingredients to be a hit comedy for the ages, brilliant multi-rolling, some delightful self-deprecation and fourth wall breaking, and a thorough dollop of the bizarre. Unfortunately, in spite the humour style falling somewhere between Python and Mr Bean, the quality of laughs was very much a tale of two halves. It has to be said that the second act contained by far the strongest comedy material, which sadly is more than can be said about act one.
The three members of Le Navet Bete (Nick Bunt, Al Dunn and Matt Freeman) are each clearly talented comic performers, with stage manager Fi Russell also lending a hand where needed to wonderful comedic effect. Freeman, in particular, gives us some terrific character acting, as well as slapstick that Rowan Atkinson would have been proud of, and Dunn’s take on Lancelot, with his over-exaggerated French accent reminiscent of Arthur Bostrom in 'Allo, ‘Allo, also drew some uproarious laughter.
There were several moments where character was broken, whether these were intentional or not, it still made for some hilarious exchanges in which the audience took great delight. As is always the case with comedy though, if the experience has you doing anything but laughing throughout, it is a massive disappointment, even for just part of the performance. The humour employed in first hour or so proved puerile, cringeworthy, and at times massively over-egged, as we were subjected to a wash of juvenile toilet humour, overdone physical comedy tropes, and some pretty painful puns that would make every dad in the UK groan.
In short, this iteration of the story of King Arthur truly is a puzzler, as it takes rather a while to get going due to many of the jokes in act one failing to land, however the second hour or so was where the troupe really hit their stride. It is always a shame when a lack of tonal consistency puts a dampener on the potential of a piece, because although there were laughs galore for part of the experience, the rest seemed to lack in engagement.
King Arthur runs at the Lowry until 28th September - for more information and tickets, you can follow the link here.
⭐️⭐️ (2*)
Gifted tickets in return for an honest review
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