We have recently become aware that there is an unusual pattern emerging on our little website. It has come to our attention that around this time for the past three years, we have taken the short journey to Bristol and while this was not intentional, it is a very interesting piece of trivia! Two years ago we took our first adventure to Bristol (which you can read about at https://rhysreviews.com/2022/09/28/bristol-adventure-experience-review/) where we experienced a fabulous bottomless brunch at Revolution and headed to Bristol Hippodrome to watch six the musical for the first time! Flash forward a whole year later, we hopped back onto the Megabus and headed to the fabulous Queenshilling to work with the amazing Haus of Koas (which you can read about at https://rhysreviews.com/2023/09/18/haus-of-cymru-in-bristol-production-review/) in a show headlined by the brilliant Ru Paul’s Drag Race Down Under/Canada vs the World season one icon Anita Wigl’it (which you can watch my interview with at https://youtu.be/6dMofzs8cac?si=oalPd6gb0GCeYsWm) This year however we were lucky enough to receive our first ever invite to the iconic Bristol Old Vic to watch Le Nevet Bete’s adaptation of Arthurian legends!
This story follows the life of three everyday villagers who, after a heavy night of drinking, discover that one of their peers promised the legendary King Arthur a show that celebrates the fantastical things that have happened in their lives. Those of you who know me in real life will be aware that I have been known to say things on a night out that I completely forget about the next day. Luckily, I have never gone as far as promising a musical spectacular to someone in the royal family but I can totally understand that sense of dread the next day when you find out what you said/did! When they finally accept the fact that there is no escaping this spectacular promise, they begin researching the king only to find that he is actually a very uninteresting person. We all know that no one wants to sit through a boring show so the trio begin crafting new and exciting fables which become the legends we know today. One of my favourite sequences in this production came as the three squires have acquired the highly coveted actors bible and begin a crash course in becoming professional performers. This is its own is already incredibly meta as the three professional performers are playing characters in a show who are learning to put on a show but it gets even more complex as the story progresses and we start to meet the rest of the people from the Arthurian stories. This then transitioned into a hilarious on-stage training montage where they tackle elements such as stage combat, acrobatics (where the three performers created an incredible human helicopter) and how to die on stage effectively.
The opening moments of this show instantly introduced us to the main three characters (and only cast members) as we see them being punished in the stocks. This transitioned into a performance of the iconic “I Want to Break Free” by Queen complete with an on-stage hoover which the audience went absolutely wild for! I personally thought that this was the perfect way to open the show as it not only did the lyrics match the narrative of the show but it also helped to introduce the comedic overtones of the entire show. Towards the end of this musical opening, the audience was informed that there was a collection of fruit under their seats which needed to be thrown at the performers on stage. I personally have not seen a show where the audience is actively invited to throw things onto the stage but the younger members of the audience seem to really enjoy this interactive element. I also thought that this was a really clever inclusion as it made sense, alongside the stock-based punishment, with the time frame this play was supposed to be set in. One of the more unhinged moments of this production occurred when the trio split up to research some captivating tales about their king and bumped into the powerful Merlin (captured wonderfully by Matt Freeman who we interviewed on our YouTube channel at https://youtu.be/pdjKkkWoGcc?si=MvIMQsVy7UkP3NeD) and his wife Gwendolen. The latter was portrayed as a highly unstable character who would continuously run to the top of the building only to stumble away moments later. At one point Merlin themselves caught their tumbling wife which again was very wild to watch!
If you are familiar with any Arthurian legend, you will know that they contain a plethora of unusual and eccentric characters however this play only contains a cast of three so between the performers they must switch between each character to help tell the story. As someone with very little experience being on stage, the idea of performing as just one character fills me with nerves and I cannot imagine having to quickly change costumes, physicality and voices so quickly (and effortlessly) which showcased the incredible amount of talent on the stage! The multi-rolling element is actually acknowledged within the performance where the trio of friends turn to each other and explain that no one is going to turn up unless one of them goes away which I thought was equal parts clever and hilarious! The closing moments of the first act contain a high-energy sequence where the squires (flipping between villager roles and Arthurian characters) are chasing each other and to add extra drama a dummy is introduced as a fake decoy for one of the guards to take away. In classic style, the wrong fake (the actual squire) is taken away to jail which triggers the stage curtain to fall for a short intermission. I thought that this apex of drama was the perfect place to insert a break as the audience was left wondering what would happen next!
The section act of this production had a much more theatrical slant as it focussed on the actual show that the three villagers had promised to put on for the king. This might be the English teacher in me but I kept thinking that there was something also Shakespearean about the fact that the characters were putting on a production about King Arthur as he was supposedly watching them. During this second half, the audience was also treated to an incredible fight sequence in the closing moments of the show which saw the three showcase their sword fighting skills as well as cartwheels and a plethora of incredible rolls around the stage which again showcased the immense breadth of talent the performers possess! This half of the show also saw a series of outlandish costumes on top of the plethora of character looks established in the first act including an inflatable ostrich and an inflatable camel outfit which was absolutely brilliant! However, my favourite outfit for the show would have to be when Merlin re-appears to inspire a young King Arthur dressed as my idol Cher! This was not the only musical number in the second as the three squires take to the stage in the most fabulous sparkly outfits as they launch into a rendition of “December 1963” or as it is more commonly known “what a (k)night” which was pure camp fun to mark the end of the show!
Overall, Le Navet Bete has crafted a fast-paced laugh-out-loud comedy perfect for the whole family! The show serves as a fantastic display of the talent shared between all of the actors which flawless switches between drastically different characters, a series of mesmerising stunts and the perfect sprinkling of musical moments which always get bonus points from us! I would rate this production 5 out of 5 stars!
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