All the World's a Stage

Some moments of London theatre ...



Charles III
Wynham's Theatres, Leicester Square
Saturday 4 October 2014


Charles I, King of England, Scotland, and Ireland, came to a sticky end, when he was executed at Whitehall in January 1649. His son, Charles II, lost the Civil War to Oliver Cromwell, in 1651, and remained in France until Cromwell's death, and the restoration of the monarchy, in 1650. And that's it for Charleses. Charles III will become king on the death of the current queen, Elizabeth II. She's 88, and doesn't seem to be going anywhere Real Soon Now. Charles will, at the same time, become Charles III, King of Australia, unless we get our act sorted.

This very entertaining play looks at the nature of that succession. Charles is now 66 and has basically spent his life hanging around, waiting for his go at the ermine. The play opens with a funeral  - "The Queen is dead. Long live the King!" But pretty soon, he has sparked a constitutional crisis over his actions on a bill of the Labour government to limit press freedom. The play cleverly puts various sides of the problem - which all have some merit - and it shows how difficult a resolution of the uncoded powers of monarchy - to advise, encourage, and warn - could be.

The play is cleverly plotted and moves along snappily. An unexpected delight was the use throughout of the rolling cadence of Shakespearean iambic pentameter, which is spoken well here, and sounds entirely natural. The scope and wit of the play - which is very funny - also gives it a Shakespearean edge - it could fit neatly into the run of Wars of the Roses plays. This is further emphasised by the spare staging. And at times, characters dip in and out of Shakespearean "types". Charles, for instance, is at various times, reminiscent of both Hamlet and Lear; Kate channels Lady Macbeth, Harry has a touch of Falstaff and Prince Hal. Diana's ghost stalks the battlements. Great performances all around; kudos to Tim Piggott-Smith for a puzzled but determined Charles.

The Wyndham's Theatres on Charing Cross Road is a delightful, bijou cinema of the old style, designed by the architect W G R Sprague in the Louis XVI style. All gilt and plaster, steeply raked tiers of circles and boxes, proscenium arch, labyrinthine corridors. It opened in 1899, and has staged over a 100 years of premium theatre, including performances by the notorious Tallulah Bankead, John Gielgud, Alec Guinness, Ralph Richardson, Vanessa Redgrave, Joan Littlewood, & Judy Dench. A bit of London theatre history. It was my first ever West End theatre-going experience. Utterly astounded by the dense crowds around Soho on a Saturday night. Loved it.