Alan Bennett’s play THE MADNESS OF GEORGE III premiered in 1991 and also became a BAFTA Award-winning film starring Nigel Hawthorne. Here, screening as part of the NT Live series, we see a sensational production, this time filmed at the Nottingham Playhouse .
Based on letters and other documents from the Royal Library at Windsor Castle it tells the story of the Regency crisis of 1788-89. It was the age of Sheridan and the landing of the First Fleet in Australia. It was also the period when Britain was still recovering from the effects of its defeat in the American Revolution.
Directed by Adam Penford (Director for Screen: Matt Woodward) it is lavishly, opulently, epically staged with many scene changes and uses of the revolve. Some scenes are very intimate, others are hugely formal. Royal castles and events are contrasted with bedchambers. For the parliament scenes the various actors also hold masks to give the illusion of yet more Members of the House. Costumes are lavish with periwigs and ermine.(It is interesting we now often forget that in this era men wore corsets – we see the Prince of Wales being laced into one to give him the fashionable shape.) Handel was King George’s favourite composer and a lot of the soundtrack features his glorious music.
Bennett blends fact and fiction in this narrative about the politics and medical crisis that occurred at the time. In 1788 King George III suffered from what has now been diagnosed as porphyria, an inherited genetic condition which affects the skin and the nervous system, and which can lead to disordered thinking and unusual behaviour.
It is feared the king might be going mad. Bennett has him suffering a complete mental breakdown, with the loss of America plaguing him heavily. The problem is that not only is the health of the monarch teetering but that of the nation: if George III is declared unfit to rule, the dissolute and profligate Prince of Wales (Wilf Scolding) will become Regent and govern. The current Prime Minister, the prudent and responsible Pitt (Nicholas Bishop), would be the first to fall.
The Prince of Wales, desperate to be king, is conspiring with the team of court doctors to bring about the King’s downfall by recommending progressively horrific treatments and ordering that Queen Charlotte ( Debra Gillett ) be separated from him.
Mark Gatiss in a powerhouse, shattering, bravura performance captures the king’s misery and perplexity as he realises he is no longer himself – he can’t trust his mouth, mind or attendants . The doctors twitter around him, observing and analysing. As the King’s behaviour becomes more and more bizarre and eccentric he ends up being forcibly restrained. The tortures of the poor King undergoing cupping etc are excruciating and very hard to watch . We see how George is quite touching in his lucid moments , displaying a conscious self-awareness – “I am not going out of my mind, my mind is going out of me” – quite distressing to watch. When himself we see the King as kind. warm, hardworking and responsible.
Adrian Scarborough plays the searchingly honest, concerned and determined to cure the King Dr Wills, who in some ways treats the King as a horse to be tamed and broken in.
Wilf Scolding portrays the scheming, somewhat corpulent and conceited Prince of Wales whose somewhat buffoonish demeanour hides a sharply plotting mind.
Queen Charlotte is sympathetically, lovingly portrayed by Debra Gillett in a fine performance, sadness blending with affection even while the King says horrible things to her in German.
A feature of this production is the way it is cast ‘genderblind’ with several ‘breeches’ roles , as there are really only two female roles, Queen Charlotte and Lady Elizabeth (Sara Powell).Amanda Hadingue for instance plays both one of the court doctors and the Prince’s man, Fox . Nadia Albina is efficacious as the business like Fitzroy.
Penfold’s staging is riveting and compelling and much depends on the Lear like lead role ( there are Lear and Shakespearean in -jokes in Bennet’s play). Mark Gatiss rises superbly to its demands.
The NT Live THE MADNESS OF GEORGE III screens at selected cinemas from December 15 2018
http://www.sharmillfilms.com.au/allfilms/2018/4/23/nt-live-the-madness-of-george-iii-15-dec