Le Navet Bete's Al Dunn on stepping-up the naughtiness in their most ambitious show to date

Devon-based theatre company Le Navet Bete is bringing its unique comedy retelling of the Arthurian legends to The Lowry. Quays Life talks to co-founder, Al Dunn to find out more.

What made you chose to bring King Arthur to the stage?

Al: “When we wanted to approach the title of King Arthur we discovered just how bonkers the stories of the Arthurian legends are, which obviously works with our style of comedy. We did a lot of research into the legends that we all know and found that a lot of people thought they were real. We, as a country, really connect to these tales which have become legends with King Arthur being recognised almost as a symbol of Britain! This led to us thinking about how these stories, over time, became myths and then legends, and thinking about where did it all start. This gave us the basis for telling the story Le Navet Bete style!”

For those not in the know – what is Le Navet Bete style?

Al: “To all intents and purposes we as Le Navet Bete are idiots and clowns! So we came up with the idea that there might be a way to explore how these stories may have come into existence through the premise of taking three simple squires who have got themselves into a bit of a pickle, to accidently ‘create’ the entire Arthurian legend through their own idiocy and influenced by the characters in Camelot at the time, to get them out of the sticky situation they have found themselves in.

“It’s a story within a story, you may think you know the legend of King Arthur but you will see it through very different eyes. We’ve approached this in the way that a clown or fool would share those stories. You’ll still see all the characters you expect to see but how the legends came into being will likely be very different to what you might expect! We have approached this in the way that a clown or fool would share those stories.

“Using this story within a story device gave us the opportunity to find a comic route through the ridiculousness of the Arthurian legends and create something which suits our physical comedy style.

“The next challenge was looking at how we were going to tell these stories with just three actors playing some of probably the most wild characters in history, and make it fun. And how we can share all of these stories, connecting them in one show. It’s the most ambitious and by far the biggest show we have ever made”.

Al Dunn in Le Navet Bete's King Arthur — Al Dunn in Le Navet Bete’s King Arthur

You are well-known for playing a multitude of characters in your shows, how many characters can we expect the three of you to be playing in King Arthur?

Al: “Between us we play 40-plus characters. Some of them you will only see for a short amount of time, in fact there is an Italian tailor you will see for exactly 3 seconds! But he is a fully rounded character with his own costume, accent everything. We love to bombard our audiences with loads of characters, it’s a way to show our skills as physical comedians and performers. The audiences love this and often genuinely can’t believe there is only three of us… that’s the magic of playing multiple characters at speed.”

Physical comedy is so popular why do you think that is?

Al: “I think it’s about seeing, in our case, three grown men being as silly as possible! Physical comedy allows audiences to see people having the freedom to do really ridiculous things that you may never see in real life. We all need a little bit of escapism too and physical comedy is something that everyone can enjoy, we always say you will enjoy our shows whether you are 7 or 107. Coming into an auditorium for two hours and losing yourself in the madness is simply just joyful. We love to see our audience having the best night out, they almost become another character in the show as we invite them into our ‘game’ and often the show becomes a bit of a party experience. Every show is different in that aspect.

“Physical comedy is something we all love. It’s a hard thing to do and we have spent almost 20 years learning the craft but we love it”.

Having worked together for nearly 20 years must mean you have a bit of a shorthand with each other. Does that make working together in such a physical way easier?

Al: “Yes 100%. Working on physical comedy is all about trust and boundaries, but we now know each other so well we really don’t have any! We are very happy to accidently hit each other in the face and all those sorts of things that really work for physical comedy. Our relationship is really strong and trustful which means we can really go all out.

“We were three friends who found a love of something together and have held onto that classic British thing that I think all friends have .. basically the ability to absolutely rip the p*** out of each other…and that comes onto the stage with us. And really I guess that’s what we, as a company, are built on.

“We produce, write and create and act in all our shows so we have the freedom to tweak and change things at any time and I think that’s what our audiences enjoy. It feels quite unique”.

In King Arthur do you have a favourite bit of the show?

Al: “I play Vivien, the inspiration for the Lady of the Lake. She is an old, extremely batty woman who can walk upstairs but not down them (like a cow), there is a scene where I am up ladders and then trying to get down over and over. It’s a crazy physical scene which goes on for far too long for my knees! But is one of those scenes where the repetition of her physical comedy becomes funnier and funnier as it goes on. It gets such a great reaction from the audience, but it is absolutely exhausting… Then straight after that I come on as Lancelot for a cooking scene. It’s nuts!”

It sounds like you need to very physically fit for this show!

Al: “It is a very athletic show and we keep very fit performing in it. We are either just approaching or just the wrong side of 40 so it’s good for us the be doing a job we love which is essentially hitting each other in the face, running round and being silly all while also keeping us fit!”

Why do you think people should come and see the show.

Al: “It’s King Arthur like you’ve never seen it before! It’s a mad, bonkers show for everyone. Your chance to enjoy a really fun night out and leave the theatre on a high. Fans of Le Navet Bete can expect to see a step up in naughtiness for us! We are pure clowns all the way through. Right from the off, the show is truly outrageous!”