The Madness of George III

Synopsis

1788 - King George III is preparing for the opening of parliament with his devoted wife, Queen Charlotte and their 15 children. Despite the picture of respectability all is not well in the palace; not only has the King lost the colonies but he's losing his mind. With the smooth running of Government depending on his sanity and the Prince of Wales increasingly impatient to succeed his father, it's a race against time to get the King fit. The Prime Minister's only hope is a self-taught doctor with some unorthodox methods for curing dementia.

Our Review:

John Dixon - 12 September 2011

After a five million pound refit of the auditorium the Theatre Royal deserved something special as a reopening, and The Madness of George III by Alan Bennett fits the bill on several counts. It was King George himself who gave the original Theatre Royal its Royal Warrant , the play is full of the wit and comedy only Bennett can write and finally David Haig, as King George, gives a mesmerising performance, which shows why he is one of our leading theatre actors.

The play is set in 1788, when King George suffered a mental breakdown (now attributed to porphyria) and not only were his doctors at a loss as how to treat him, but his son was trying to become Prince Regent , thereby taking over as ruler from his father. In later years that did actually happen as the Kings health deteriorated. But for the play, Bennett focuses on the period where George recovered before the Regency Bill was placed before the House of Lords.

Director Christopher Luscombe ensures the large ...

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