Reviewed by Lee Farley
King Charles III by Mike Bartlett at Malvern Theatres
Mike Bartlett is an ambitious writer. Previous plays include “Earthquakes in London” which tackles the thorny issue of climate change and environmental decay and “13” which is a contemporary look at the second coming. His recent “Doctor Foster” is a modern, glossy TV drama with the structure of a Jacobean tragedy. Even if his experiments aren’t always entirely effective, he always has something important and interesting to debate. King Charles III is no exception – it’s a fascinating, but flawed, theatrical hypothesis.
The production opens with the queen’s funeral – candles, Agnes Dei, ritual, ceremony. Charles takes over as King and is immediately plunged into a political dilemma. He searches his conscience and makes a decision which will impact on the crown, the state, the media and the whole country. We meet Camilla, William & Kate and Harry, “real” characters mixed in with fictional politicians. Harry embarks on a relationship with the unsuitable Jess, an art student, while he’s out clubbing on the night of his grandmother’s funeral. On top of all this intrigue, Bartlett imposes a Shakespearean structure – he uses blank verse, stages the play with a Globe-like simplicity and echoes a range of Shakespeare’s characters and situations. Charles and William are visited by a ghost, Kate manipulates and influences her husband’s ambition, son betrays father. Shakespearean history is a useful parallel for Bartlett to exploit and Tom Scutt’s reflective design surrounds us with faces of rulers, echoes of the past, archive and tragedy.
There’s a fantastic scene near the end of the first half in which Harry visits a kebab shop and gets into a discussion with the guy working there who clearly doesn’t recognise him. The kebab shop guy talks about the state of the country, the queen’s death, Scottish independence, carving up the NHS, the BBC – he asks what’s left of England? Where does the nation stand, now? This left me at the interval wondering where the play was headed, gripped by the examination of modern government & monarchy and the impact this might have on Bartlett’s fictional future. Disappointingly, the play’s second half is much more interested in the domestic turmoil in the Windsor family and the subsequent breakdown of the relationship between Charles and William. I felt short-changed by the switch from political to personal as the play’s first half had tantalisingly suggested more riots on the streets, tanks on the lawn and kebab shop wisdom.
Rupert Goold’s production has had a change of personnel since the London run at the Almeida & Wyndham and some of the cast haven’t fully inhabited their roles yet. I remained unmoved and unconvinced by the relationship between Harry and Jess. There’s excellent work from Jennifer Bryden as the intelligent schemer Kate and from Parth Thakerar in a range of roles including the kebab shop guy. Ben Righton’s William is a believable modern husband with his rugby club bonhomie and reasonableness. Robert Powell’s Charles is understated, dignified and vulnerable. A strong, sensitive performance at the heart of an excellent production. I recommend King Charles III – it’s crammed with complexity, theatrical experiment and political debate.
