Knightmare Live!

Previously on my blog I’ve written about one of my favourite TV shows as a child, Knightmare. Well, 2013 is proving to be a good year for the show. As well as repeats on Challenge, and a brand new episode on YouTube, there has also been a stage show version, known as Knightmare Live! After a successful run at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, it came to London for a performance on 27th September at the Bloomsbury Theatre, and I went along to see it.

The show sold out of its tickets, with 510 people in attendance. Most of the people there were, like me, in their thirties, and who fondly remembered the show as children. (I say most people, there were some people in the row in front of me who were a bit older, including a man who looked strangely familiar...)

The format of the show is that a member of the audience gets the opportunity to don the famous Helmet of Justice, and be guided through the dungeon by a couple of guest comedians, who are different for each performance, so none of them know what exactly will be up ahead. On the night I saw the show the guest comedians were the Real MacGuffins, and our brave dungeoneer was Vickie.

Many of the elements from the TV show are present – the knapsack for food, the life force face that falls apart, a wall monster, and so on. We get to see the quest progress – with much shouting out from the audience! A good level of audience participation was one of the great things about the show. And, by the interval, we had managed to get through Level One.

(You know, that man in the row in front of me did look really familiar...)

After the break it was on to Level Two, and things were getting harder for our team. And Level Three was a real tough one! But there was more to this show than just the quest, as there was also a story being told, which you’re slowly drawn in to...

The show had lots of humour throughout, with many genuine laugh out loud moments. Paul Flannery as Treguard and Tom Bell as Lord Fear were both excellent in their roles.

Overall, it was a great show, and all fans of the original TV show will love it. I really enjoyed it, and I highly recommend seeing it if you get the chance.

So the show ended, and it was time to go home. But that man in the row in front of me... Yes, I knew who he was...

It turned out that it was none other than Hugo Myatt, who had played Treguard in the original TV show. As we walked out of the theatre many more people saw and recognised him – a true hero from our childhood. Outside the theatre Hugo was happy to meet all of us and pose for photos, complete with a typical Treguard expression on his face! It was a great honour to meet him – Friday nights as a child just wouldn’t have been the same without him as Treguard. (And he’s a lovely man in real life!) Like us, he also liked the show.

Me meeting Hugo Myatt (with, er, some goblins in the background...)

Flannery and Bell were also both lovely, as after the show they too met fans and posed for photographs with us, as well as allowing us to try on the Helmet of Justice. I’d like to give huge thanks to them both, and everyone else involved in the show, for giving us a really enjoyable evening.

Me trying on the Helmet of Justice, alongside Tom Bell (Lord Fear) and Paul Flannery (Treguard)

At the time of writing, the next London performance for Knightmare Live! on 17th October still has tickets available (corrected 30th Sept), and there are still tickets available for a performance in Brighton on 13th October. For details on these, and any future performances, check out the Knightmare Live! website.

So, overall, it was a great night out – I got to relive a childhood experience whilst watching a great show, and got to meet one of my childhood heroes, which made this Karl very happy...

Next Week: Karl the Actor...