The Queen is dead. After a lifetime of waiting, Prince Charles ascends the throne. A future of power lies before him... but how to rule?
Winner of the 2015 Olivier Award for Best Play, King Charles III is the "bracingly provocative and outrageously entertaining" (The Independent) drama of political intrigue by Mike Bartlett that comes to Broadway following a sensational West End run. Directed by Rupert Goold and deemed "the most insightful and engrossing new history play in decades" by Ben Brantley of The New York Times, this "bold and brilliant" (The Times of London) production explores the people underneath the crowns, the unwritten rules of Britain's democracy and the conscience of its most famous family.
As the use of blank verse suggests, Bartlett aims to dress up the skeeviness of this speculative royal-watching in Shakespearean grandeur, and he mostly succeeds. The iambic pentameter is supple and amusing ('But here's my husband, he's been on the phone') even if it depends a bit too much on auxiliary verbs to fill out the lines. The scene-closing couplets, the elaborately extended metaphors, the near quotations ('Say more. For nothing comes of nothing said') all support in language the Shakespeare-sized themes and characters he has tossed into the blender.
When was the last time you saw a new play that was written in iambic pentameter, or a futuristic fantasy about real-life, still-living political figures? Mike Bartlett's 'King Charles III,' a critical and commercial hit in London, audaciously applies the conventions of the Shakespearean history play to today's British royal family, who are portrayed immediately after the death of the currently reigning 89-year-old Elizabeth II.
2015 | Broadway |
Original Broadway Production Broadway |
Year | Ceremony | Category | Nominee |
---|---|---|---|
2016 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Actor in a Play | Tim Pigott-Smith |
2016 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Director of a Play | Rupert Goold |
2016 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Play | King Charles III |
2016 | Drama League Awards | Distinguished Performance Award | Tim Pigott-Smith |
2016 | Drama League Awards | Outstanding Production of a Broadway or Off-Broadway Play | Mike Bartlett |
2016 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Costume Design (Play or Musical) | Tom Scutt |
2016 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Director of a Play | Rupert Goold |
2016 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding New Broadway Play | Mike Bartlett |
2016 | Tony Awards | Best Costume Design of a Play | Tom Scutt |
2016 | Tony Awards | Best Direction of a Play | Rupert Goold |
2016 | Tony Awards | Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Play | Richard Goulding |
2016 | Tony Awards | Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Play | Tim Pigott-Smith |
2016 | Tony Awards | Best Play | Mike Bartlett |
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