The Madness of George III

by Alan Bennett

seen by live streaming from Nottingham Playhouse on 5 February 2019

Alan Bennett's 1991 play was revived last year at the Nottingham Playhouse (this screening last night was not, technically, live as it was a repeat, but it was first streamed live late last year). Adam Penford directed Mark Gatiss as George III, Debra Gillett as Queen Charlotte, Adrian Scarborough as Dr Willis, Nicholas Bishop as William Pitt and Wilf Scolding as the Prince of Wales, with a dozen supporting cast. The production was designed by Robert Jones.

The play deals with the personal and political crisis of the king's first bout of madness in 1788/9 (there is a casual reference to the fall of the Bastille towards the end of the play). The imagined personal life of the King and Queen is the main focus, but of course in the eighteenth century the mental incapacity of the monarch had grave political repercussions, especially considering the discord between the King and the Prince of Wales (dismayingly referred to by the Queen only as 'the Son'). Generally the opposition party tended to support the current Prince of Wales throughout the eighteenth century as some sort of Royal patronage was essential to political success; the modern idea of the 'loyal opposition' was in its infancy.

My Name is Lucy Barton

by Elizabeth Strout adapted by Rona Munro

seen at the Bridge Theatre on 4 February 2019

Laura Linney stars in Richard Eyre's production of this play adapted from Elizabeth Strout's novel of the same name. She had a very successful run at the Bridge last year, which was sold out before I felt motivated to see it, and so has agreed to a short revival this year.

It's a demanding 90-minute monologue in which Lucy's story, and her reflections on the nature of story telling and the need to recognise what one's own story is, is revealed as she recalls the nine weeks she had to spend in hospital after an appendectomy, and the difficult reunion between herself and her mother who decided to visit her in the hospital (a first visit from rural Illinois to New York).

The Wizard of Oz

a pantomime loosely based on L. Frank Baum's book

seen at the High Cross Church, Camberley, on 2 February 2019

HATS (High Cross Church Amateur Theatrical Society) chose The Wizard of Oz as the basis for this year's pantomime. With typical pantomime exuberance Kansas was replaced by Camberley as Dorothy's home - though the set looked untypically rural - and only two of the songs from the famous film were used. Other musical numbers proliferated, drawn from all sorts of sources of which I remain blithely ignorant.