First-class theatre (From Basingstoke Gazette)

First-class theatre

9:15am Thursday 16th September 2010 in General By Lucie Richards

The Madness of George III
The Haymarket
Until Saturday

A SUPERB performance by Simon Ward is a tour-de-force that pulls Alan Bennett’s marvellous play together.

The Madness of George III is not an easy production to realise, with 21 characters, Georgian wigs and costumes and various royal chambers to evoke on stage. Turn this into a touring production and the difficulties are magnified. This may explain why Bennett’s play is so rarely chosen by theatre companies.

But the challenge was not too daunting for director Alastair Whatley and the creative forces at Wilde Enterprises.

The show has come to Basingstoke for its second week of a tour, having opened at the Devonshire Park Theatre in East-bourne, and there was still a perceptible early tour feeling at the start of Tuesday’s opening performance at The Haymarket.

But after a half-hearted assassination attempt on the king’s life, the players soon warmed up to deliver an excellent show.

The play retells the story of King George III, affectionately known as Farmer George, who went mad in 1786, causing political chaos and personal anguish for the king and his family.

It is hard not to draw some comparisons with recent political upheaval, and refreshing – if not exactly comforting – to know that politics and its often self-serving practitioners have not changed a great deal in 300 years.

The success of the play relies on its central performance, and Ward is utterly believable.

He brings across the distress and vulnerability of an intelligent man who is painfully aware that he is losing his mind, and knows of the indignities he suffers at the hands of his doctors. Despite the comedy tag attached to the play, it is a tragic tale for George III.

Ward rightfully steals the show but his fellow players put in equally convincing performances. Jamie Hinde is a haggard, despairing Prime Minister Pitt, but he is given the chance to flex his comedy muscles as the stool-obsessed physician Pepys, and Knight Mantel delivers a solid performance doubling up as Dundas and the “mad doctor” Willis.

The production uses a series of curtains for some simple but effective scene changes and much fun is had with curiously-shaped wigs.

For me, it was a first-class first night of theatre. The play runs until Saturday, with matinees today and on Saturday. Tickets are available from 01256 844244 or anvilarts.org.uk.