Review King Charles III at the Theatre Royal Nottingham

In Mike Bartlett's quasi Shakespearian telling of the fictional death of Queen Elizabeth and the automatic succession to the British throne of her son Prince Charles (now King Charles III) we get over two hours of brilliant political theatre with a dark comic edge.

The magnificent set, almost mediaeval in look – crumbling ancient walls – tall guttering candles – dark entrances and a sea of faded painted faces right across the middle section is designed by Tom Scutt. The atmosphere is heightened throughout with superb music from composer Jocelyn Pook and splendid sound design from Paul Ardetti. Lighting designer is Jon Clark.

King Charles III benefits hugely from excellent direction (Robert Goold with Whitney Mosery) and the whole play flows along like a stricken royal barge dangerously navigating the river Thames at night. As the story glides by it takes in the difficult politics in Parliament due to King Charles refusal in signing a legal document concerning freedom of the press. Social unrest ensues and along the way, with a few nasty bumps into the proverbial riverbank we eavesdrop on certain major players in the current royal family and their entourage.

None of the royal characters are caricatured and Robert Powell is terrifically stubborn and vulnerable as the new King who just wants an easy life after waiting almost a lifetime for his mother to pass away and for himself to rightfully attain the throne. Son, Harry 'Prince of Wales' just desires to be a 'normal bloke that shops in Sainsbury's and has a house that he has paid for'. Richard Glaves lights up the stage as the confused and love-struck Harry and Lucy Phelps plays his new girlfriend and staunch republican in a very natural way – at once in awe of her situation and politically pulling the opposite way.

William and Kate (Ben Righton and Jennifer Brydon) are almost perfect look-a-likes for their roles; William forever holding his hands together at waist level; intelligent, polite and strongly built and Kate – beautifully dressed and initially demure. As the play evolves however the tides turn and Kate comes into her own; acting much more ambitious and vociferous, pushing her husband William to usurp his father as king. Supporting King Charles III himself is his wife Camilla (Penelope Beaumont) and shown as an equal to Charles whose loyalty to her husband is tried to the utmost as the country goes into civil war and Charles struggles to reason why.

The two major politicians Mr Stevens and Mr Evans (Giles Taylor and Tim Treloar) appear to walked straight out of the real House of Commons and even with their dialogue being mostly governed by the strictures of iambic pentameter, their performances are very natural and powerful on the stage.

This complex and potentially controversial play from the Almeida Theatre (on tour)  is brilliantly written and performed and although the story is dark and - even includes a recognisable ghost predicting destiny- it is not without a great deal of wit.

For those coming to the play to see Robert Powell as the lead they will be delighted in his tour de force portrayal in the challenging lead role. For those interested in witnessing 'a play of the future' today with a superb ensemble look no further than this terrific production.  Charles III runs at Nottingham Theatre Royal until Saturday 10^th October 2015.

Review 1984 at Nottingham Playhouse.

Hitting the Nottingham Playhouse stage with both bare and bleeding feet running, Duncan Macmillan and Robert Icke's Olivier Award winning acclaimed adaptation of George Orwell's dark political drama 1984, is a sure fire choice in starting off the Playhouse's Conspiracy Season with a startling bang.

 

Fresh from two runs in London's West End where it has been playing to packed houses, this terrifying theatrical version of 1984 ( a co-production between Nottingham Playhouse, Headlong and Almeida Theatre) wows and frightens. The various design elements; lighting by Natasha Chivers; stage design by Chloe Lamford and sound and video design by Tom Gibbons and Tim Reid respectively prove a collective theatrical and shocking tour de force. The adaptation inspired by the appendix of 1984 and directed by McMillan and Icke is phenomenal and this is truly theatre that makes us think about language and the nature of freedom and questions the fickle  natures of memory and reality.

Although the real year 1984 is long past, Orwell's bleak world of Big Brother watching still rings scarily true today with surveillance cameras high above most city streets in the world and monitors protecting and probing our every move in the shops and public buildings. In this fictional world where keeping a diary is unlawful and thoughts are criminalised, being in love is actively forbidden and history erased, the audience is completely gripped throughout. You can almost hear the audience's collective hearts breaking over Winston and Julia's doomed love affair as their world is literally pulled apart and gasps of real shock over Winston's torture.

Often it is said that a theatrical venture is an ensemble piece. Perhaps this can be a lazy description but not so in this constantly changing play of 1984 where within a second's worth of blackout the cast re-appear in completely different places on the stage and verbal repetition and human erasure fight for attention. Mere ensemble, hardly does the art justice. It is easy to see why this production has universally been offered five stars by the critics. Abstractly quoting from the play, maybe the critics were unsure whether they were seeing five or four stars and, terrified out of their wits, opted for five. If six or seven stars were another option 1984 would still be most deserving.

Every single performance by the ensemble; Tim Dutton, Stephen Fewell, Janine Harouni (Julia), Christopher Patrick Nolan, Ben Porter, Matthew Spencer (Winston), Simon Coates, Mandi Symonds, and the young girl played by either Anna Jaques or Victoria Todd is exemplary.

1984 is one heck of a production and deserves to go on winning award after award as it continues at Nottingham Playhouse and goes on to Australia and the USA.

Runs until Saturday 26th September 2015 at Nottingham Playhouse

See Nottingham Playhouse ONLINE to book and see more details about the stunning Conspiracy Season ahead.