King Charles III

by Mike Bartlett

seen at Wyndhams Theatre on 28 January 2015

Subtitled 'a future history play', this transfer from the Almeida Theatre is directed by Rupert Goold and stars Tim Pigott-Smith in the title role.

The play opens on the accession of Charles as king, signalled by an Agnus Dei presumably being sung at Queen Elizabeth's funeral. Very soon the new King has created a constitutional crisis by the (possibly misplaced) conscientiousness of his approach to the task in hand - he refuses to give the Royal Assent to a new bill restricting press freedom. The political fallout and the philosophical issues are explored through confrontations between the King, the Prime Minister (presumed to be Labour), the Leader of the Opposition (presumed to be Tory), and immediate members of the Royal Family.

The set, a series of daises or steps in front of a semicircular brick wall (imitating the back wall of the Almeida Theatre) with a picture gallery of indistinct portrait heads hung as a continuous stripe of panels around the wall, and lit initially by great candles, evokes as required Westminster Abbey, private offices, public spaces, and so forth. It also seems soaked with history and with a popular way of depicting Shakespearean history plays.

The play is written in blank verse. At first this gives a jolt of surprise and apprehension (in case it does not 'come off') but it has an extraordinary effect. What could have been a sprawling and messy mixture of politics and family dysfunction becomes unified into a weighty and extremely serious investigation of a number of contemporary issues which are all too often either ignored or superficially taken for granted. The cadences and rhythms of the verse give wider relevance to what might otherwise have been merely flippant or point-scoring remarks, or easy appeals to past Royal scandals and gaffes. And yet these allusions to the past are sometimes deliberately made, and they provide some of the sharp and genuine humour that lightens and enriches the play.

While one admires the accuracy with which the cast have created the personalities of the Royal Family which we think we know - Charles himself, Camilla, William and Kate, and Harry - they are wonderfully prevented from being mere pastiches or exaggerated 'spitting images' by the sheer heft of the language they speak. At the same time the text exposes their predicaments, and the motivations Bartlett has chosen for them, quite pitilessly, with all sorts of interesting resonances floating in from the great Shakespearean canon - intimations of ghosts, naked ambition and determination to rise, strength and weakness in marriage, intractable political confrontations - to say nothing of occasional direct verbal echoes ('Nothing will come of nothing').

Tim Pigott-Smith gives a superb performance as the King, moving from idealism and good intentions to frightening zeal and paranoia, but always with a desperate need for emotional support and release. His final predicament is most touching, and despite the damage he almost unwittingly causes one never loses sight of his humanity. There is a poignant sub-plot concerning Prince Harry (an excellent Richard Goulding) who is plummeted into a clever variation of the progress of his almost namesake Prince Hal; he is painfully trapped rather than fulfilled by the demands of royalty. William (Rory Fleck Byrne) and Kate (Lydia Wilson) are unerringly portrayed as a power couple whose dynamic can contain both realpolitik and a spuriously sunny charm.

It will be fascinating to see how this play will look in a decade or so; but in itself it is a powerful examination of the peculiar possibilities that could arise from Britain's famously unwritten constitution.