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The Bard's King John is a wonderful, rowdy romp: Shakespearean bunfight is not neat or tidy, but it is excellent fun, writes PATRICK MARMION

Published: 01:00 GMT, 20 May 2016 | Updated: 06:19 GMT, 20 May 2016

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Rating:

King John (Rose Theatre, Kingston)

Verdict: Shakespeare bunfight

There is often a good reason why plays are ‘not often performed’. Shakespeare’s King John falls into that category, but it’s actually one of my favourites — a medieval bunfight at which the Bard threw everything: freewheeling story, barmy characters and glorious one-liners.

It’s not neat. It’s certainly not tidy. But as Trevor Nunn’s rowdy production demonstrates, it can be excellent fun.

The chief culprit, as far as the mayhem goes, is King John himself. Taking the crown in a hilarious ‘Who, me?!’ moment at the start, Jamie Ballard gives full vent to his character’s waywardness.

King John is not neat. It’s certainly not tidy. But as Trevor Nunn’s rowdy production demonstrates, it can be excellent fun

Trying on moods like underwear, Ballard whimpers, rants, laughs, glowers and turns bright crimson inside his scraggy blond wig. All the dirty work is delegated to his enforcers — Philip The Bastard and Hubert the misshapen.

Howard Charles, as Philip, is a cheerful bruiser. Stephen Kennedy, as Hubert, is an Ulster hardman who turns into a dewy-eyed, soft touch.

The women are just as much fun and Lisa Dillon, as Constance, batters the stage, actors and audience with a nuclear arsenal of gripes and griefs.

She is a woman ‘naturally born to fears’, who considers herself the wronged mother of the rightful heir to the English throne — and doesn’t mind who knows it.