Fresh from Plain Jane Productions as part of the Camden Fringe is Navarre, a new version of Shakespeare’s Love’s Labour’s Lost, a mere 450 years old and here reinvented as a 70 minute musical comedy, presented in the round. With a young, diverse and multi-instrumentalist cast, director Harriett Jane O’Grady gives us the nightclub Navarre where after a fabulous opening number we are introduced to four young men who – eventually – are to swear off wine, women and song so that they can focus on their studies. You know, like university students do…
Their leader is King Ferdinand, played by a magnetic Shane Afolabi, who is presented with a problem when he learns that his club is to be visited by the “princess” of Aquitaine, a rival nightclub. How can she be allowed to enter Navarre if Ferdinand and his lords have sworn off all contact with women? Something of a first world problem then and one that is easily overcome. The ladies arrive and, in the best Shakespearean tradition, everyone falls in love with everyone else. After some shenanigans with misdirected love letters and, of course, disguises, everything ends well with all of the lovers paired off correctly and ready for their story to continue in Shakespeare’s sequel – the lost play, Love’s Labour’s Won.
Ferdinand’s lords are played by a rumbustious Alex White (Lord Longueville) and a kinetic Tom Crabtree (Lord Dumain) while Leopold Benedict is super-smooth as Lord Berowne. The equal of the lords – and then some – are the ladies, led by Tabitha Detroit as the Princess of Aquitaine. Playing the imperiously seductive Lady Rosaline, Roxana Rae Bartle has perfect comic timing, while Eleanor Cobb and an ebullient Eloise Richardson milk every line for laughs.
All of the cast are superb, whether as actors or as musicians, but the clowns are simply outstanding (not something one would normally expect from a Shakespearean comedy). As Costard, Jimmy Bryant works the audience like he was born to it, keeping everyone on the same page, constantly breaking the fourth wall and, in a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moment, breaking in a different way. The object of Costard’s affection, Jaquenetta, is played by the honey-voiced Daisy Winter-Taylor, half of the duo that is @rivierasmusic.
Completing the cast in the fairly thankless role of the constable, Anthony Dull, is Burhan Kathawala who is also Navarre’s musical director. Kathawala “created the spark” for most of the original music while Harriett Jane O’Grady composed the harmonies and took charge of overall structural choices while both supported the cast who creatively led most of the individual songs. A word of praise too for the casting director, Marie-Claire Wood.
This is a Love’s Labour’s Lost for the twenty-first century and Shakespeare would surely have loved it. Navarre is on at The Cockpit till 25th August and is more than worth the slightly terrifying trek from Edgware Road station.
Review by Louis Mazzini
Step into the hazy, sexy world of Navarre, London’s infamous underground jazz club, for the party of the century. Well known as the best in the city, this is where you go for revelry, hedonism and the silkiest-smoothest jazz in town. However, it’s all about to change; King Ferdinand and his dapper dons are planning to embark on a three-year quest of the mind. No more parties, no alcohol and – most importantly – no women to distract. Just books, books and more books… But he seems to have forgotten about Aquitaine, the neighbouring jazz club, and their upcoming visit led by the fierce, unforgiving Princess and her band of provocateurs…
This is Shakespeare revamped, shook up and ready to party!
CAST
King Ferdinand – Shane Afolabi
Berowne – Leopold Benedict
Longaville – Alex White
Dumain – Tom Crabtree
Princess of Aquitaine – Tabitha Detroit
Rosaline – Roxana Rae Bartle
Katherine – Eloise Richardson
Maria – Eleanor Cobb
Dull – Burhan Kathawala
Costard – Jimmy Bryant
Jaquenetta – Daisy Winter-Taylor
CREATIVE
Director/Producer/Co-Movement Director – Harriett O’Grady
Co-Producer – Anna Elise LaFrance
Musical Director – Burhan Kathawala
Assistant Director – Izzy Austin
Co-Movement Director/Assistant Musical Director – Adele Barnes
Stage Manager – Alice Barclay
Casting Director/Social Media Manager – Marie-Claire Wood
Poster design – Chelsie Fu
NAVARRE
The Cockpit
22 to 25 August 2024
https://www.thecockpit.org.uk/
